Calamagrostis stricta(Timm) Koeler

narrow small-reedslimstem reedgrass

WFO wfo-0000858042 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 7 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 7 times, so some figures below are different views of the same plant, taken on the same day, rather than different individuals. They are usually different parts of it: the leaf, the flower, the bark.

Calamagrostis stricta, photographed by Eric Lamb
fig. a Eric Lamb, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-09-11 / obs. 177400006

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

The specimen a real sheet, in a real collection

Herbarium
The New York Botanical Garden
Accession
1060573
Filed as
Calamagrostis stricta subsp. inexpansa (A.Gray) C.W.Greene
Det. by
C. W. Greene 1980-01-01
Collected
C. A. Geyer 1839
Origin
US
The sheet
View the digitised specimen (CC BY 4.0)

A real pressed plant, in a real collection, under the accession number above. Not an illustration of one. The holding institution does not serve this sheet’s image to third parties, so there is no photograph here. The record is real and the link goes to it. Where we hold no openly licensed sheet for a species this section is simply absent, and where a sheet never recorded who determined it, that field stays empty rather than being filled in. Roughly half of all herbarium sheets never recorded a determiner, which is ordinary.

Native range 88 botanical countries

Regions where Calamagrostis stricta is native: Altay, Amur, Kamchatka, Kazakhstan, Khabarovsk, Korea, Kuril Is., Magadan, Mongolia, Primorye, Sakhalin, Tadzhikistan, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, West Siberia, Yakutiya, Baltic States, Belarus, Central European Russia, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, East European Russia, Finland, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, North European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Norway, Poland, Romania, South European Russia, Svalbard, Sweden, Ukraine, Alaska, Alberta, Arizona, British Columbia, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Greenland, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Labrador, Maine, Manitoba, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Brunswick, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Newfoundland, North Dakota, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Ohio, Ontario, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Prince Edward I., Québec, Saskatchewan, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Yukon, Argentina South, Bolivia, Chile South, Peru AltayAmurKamchatkaKazakhstanKhabarovskMagadanMongoliaPrimoryeSakhalinTadzhikistanTranscaucasusTürkiyeWest SiberiaYakutiyaBaltic StatesBelarusCentral European RussiaCzechia-SlovakiaDenmarkEast European RussiaFinlandGermanyHungaryIcelandIrelandNetherlandsNorth European RussiaNorthwest European RussiaNorwayPolandRomaniaSouth European RussiaSvalbardSwedenUkraineAlaskaAlbertaArizonaBritish ColumbiaCaliforniaColoradoConnecticutGreenlandIdahoIllinoisIndianaIowaKansasLabradorMaineManitobaMichiganMinnesotaMissouriMontanaNebraskaNevadaNew BrunswickNew HampshireNew JerseyNew YorkNewfoundlandNorth DakotaNorthwest TerritoriesNova ScotiaNunavutOhioOntarioOregonPennsylvaniaPrince Edward I.QuébecSaskatchewanSouth DakotaUtahVermontWashingtonWest VirginiaWisconsinWyomingYukonArgentina SouthBoliviaChile SouthPeru Korea
Native distribution of Calamagrostis stricta, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Alaska ASK NORTHERN AMERICA
Alberta ABT
Arizona ARI
British Columbia BRC
California CAL
Colorado COL
Connecticut CNT
Greenland GNL
Idaho IDA
Illinois ILL
Indiana INI
Iowa IOW
Kansas KAN
Labrador LAB
Maine MAI
Manitoba MAN
Michigan MIC
Minnesota MIN
Missouri MSO
Montana MNT
Nebraska NEB
Nevada NEV
New Brunswick NBR
New Hampshire NWH
New Jersey NWJ
New York NWY
Newfoundland NFL
North Dakota NDA
Northwest Territories NWT
Nova Scotia NSC
Nunavut NUN
Ohio OHI
Ontario ONT
Oregon ORE
Pennsylvania PEN
Prince Edward I. PEI
Québec QUE
Saskatchewan SAS
South Dakota SDA
Utah UTA
Vermont VER
Washington WAS
West Virginia WVA
Wisconsin WIS
Wyoming WYO
Yukon YUK
Baltic States BLT EUROPE
Belarus BLR
Central European Russia RUC
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
Denmark DEN
East European Russia RUE
Finland FIN
Germany GER
Great Britain GRB
Hungary HUN
Iceland ICE
Ireland IRE
Netherlands NET
North European Russia RUN
Northwest European Russia RUW
Norway NOR
Poland POL
Romania ROM
South European Russia RUS
Svalbard SVA
Sweden SWE
Ukraine UKR
Altay ALT ASIA-TEMPERATE
Amur AMU
Kamchatka KAM
Kazakhstan KAZ
Khabarovsk KHA
Korea KOR
Kuril Is. KUR
Magadan MAG
Mongolia MON
Primorye PRM
Sakhalin SAK
Tadzhikistan TZK
Transcaucasus TCS
Türkiye TUR
West Siberia WSB
Yakutiya YAK
Argentina South AGS SOUTHERN AMERICA
Bolivia BOL
Chile South CLS
Peru PER

Not drawn on the map: Kuril Is., Great Britain. We hold no public-domain boundary for these regions, so they are listed rather than guessed at.

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Where it actually grows measured, from 316 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -27.6 °C -13.8 °C -5.2 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 12.3 °C 21.6 °C 27.3 °C
Annual rainfall 288 mm 611 mm 1,192 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 24 mm 77 mm 249 mm

It is found where winters are arctic. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 316 research-grade observations of Calamagrostis stricta that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one.

Also published as 86 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Agrostis arundinacea J.Presl
  • Agrostis arundinacea var. contracta (Dumort.) Lej.
  • Arundo groenlandica Schrank
  • Arundo stricta Hofft.
  • Arundo stricta Timm
  • Arundo stricta var. angustata Wahlenb.
  • Arundo stricta var. interrupta Wahlenb.
  • Calamagrostis ameghinoi (Speg.) Macloskie
  • Calamagrostis arundinacea var. contracta (Dumort.) Koltz
  • Calamagrostis borealis Laest.
  • Calamagrostis contracta Dumort.
  • Calamagrostis freticola (Speg.) Makloskie
  • Calamagrostis fuegiana Speg.
  • Calamagrostis groenlandica (Schrank) Kunth
  • Calamagrostis groenlandica var. iljinii Tzvelev
  • Calamagrostis haenkeana Hitchc.
  • Calamagrostis hookeri (Syme) Druce
  • Calamagrostis inexpansa A.Gray ex Torr.
  • Calamagrostis inexpansa subsp. micrantha (Kearney) Stebbins & D.Zohary
  • Calamagrostis jakutensis Petrov
  • Calamagrostis kolgujewensis Gand.
  • Calamagrostis laxiflora Kearney
  • Calamagrostis lucida Scribn.
  • Calamagrostis magellanica Phil.

and 62 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.