Poaceae
Tall reed
Phragmites karka
- Family
- Poaceae
- Genus
- Phragmites
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Common names
By language (10)
- Amharic
- Shembeko
- Arabic
- قيصوب طويل
- arz
- قيصوب طويل
- Chinese
- 開卡蘆, 卡开芦, 卡开芦(大芦), 水芦荻根, 大芦, 丝毛芦
- English
- Tall reed
- Indonesian
- Perumpung
- Japanese
- セイタカヨシ, セイコノヨシ
- Javanese
- Prumpung
- Sundanese
- Bayongbong
- Thai
- แขม
Synonyms
- Arundo corea Rottler ex Hook.f.
- Arundo karka Retz.
- Arundo roxburghii Kunth
- Arundo tecta Blanco
- Arundo tibialis Roxb.
- Arundo tibialis Roxb. ex Wall.
- Arundo vallatoria L.
- Calamagrostis karka (Retz.) J.F.Gmel.
- Oxyanthe japonica (Steud.) Steud.
- Phragmites bifaria Wight ex Hook.f.
- Phragmites cincta (Hook.f.) B.S.Sun
- Phragmites communis var. zeylanicus Nees
- Phragmites karka var. cinctus Hook.f.
- Phragmites karka var. karka
- Phragmites laxiflora Steud.
- Phragmites nepalensis Nees ex Steud.
- Phragmites roxburghii Steud.
- Phragmites vallatorius (L.) Veldkamp
- Sericura japonica Steud.
- Trichoon karka (Retz.) Roth
- Trichoon roxburghii (Kunth) W.Wight
- Trichoon roxburghii W.Wight
Flowers
- In flower
- July, September to December (from 24 flowering iNaturalist observations worldwide)
Characteristics
- Growth habit
- Graminoid
- Lifespan
- Perennial
- In the US and Canada
- Pacific Basin: native
Photos

FlowerPhoto: chiuluan, CC BY 4.0, from iNaturalist 
FlowerPhoto: Abu Hamas, CC BY-SA 4.0, from iNaturalist 
FlowerPhoto: 胡正恆(Jackson Hu), CC BY 4.0, from iNaturalist 
FlowerPhoto: 胡正恆(Jackson Hu), CC BY 4.0, from iNaturalist 
FruitPhoto: chiuluan, CC BY 4.0, from iNaturalist 
LeavesPhoto: 潘立傑 LICHIEH_PAN, CC BY 4.0, from iNaturalist 
FruitPhoto: 葉子, CC0, from iNaturalist Photo: Show_ryu, CC BY-SA 3.0, from Wikimedia Commons 
Photo: Mark Sytsma, CC BY 4.0, from Wikimedia Commons 
Photo: White, Mike, CC BY 4.0, from Wikimedia Commons 
Photo: Cheng-Tao Lin, CC BY 4.0, from iNaturalist 
Photo: White, Mike, CC BY 4.0, from Wikimedia Commons
More in Phragmites
Sources: classification, synonyms from World Flora Online Plant List (2026-06, CC0 1.0); common names, popularity from Wikidata (2026-10-26, CC0 1.0); common names, US characteristics from USDA PLANTS Database (2025-05-29, CC0 1.0). About our plant data.