Tall reed (Phragmites karka)

Tall reed (Phragmites karka) is a species of plant in the Poaceae, grass with large, hollow stems, chronic, often found growing in damp places, forming dense colonies and used for crafts to support and firewood.

P. karka has chronic reeds with spreading rhizomes and erect stems up to 10 m high, hollow and young shoots grow to form branches on the segments.





The tip has a soft stem and is green with linear stripes and is covered with leaves. The base has a hard stem, woody, bare and yellow or brown or black.

The leaves are ribbon-shaped, 30-80 cm long, 12-40 mm wide and green. The flowers are clustered in panicles, 30-50 cm long, 10-20 cm wide and 9-12 mm spikelets. Generally reproduce vegetatively and rarely flower.

Tall reed grows at elevations near sea level up to 3000 meters along river banks, marshes, wet meadows, mountain slopes and is flood resistant. Widely planted for soil stabilization from erosion. Split tatepal trunks are used instead of bamboo to make roofs and woven materials.

TAXON

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Liliopsida
Order: Poales
Family: Poaceae
Subfamily: Arundinoideae
Tribe: Molinieae
Genus: Phragmites Adans. in Fam. Pl. 2: 34, 559 (1763)
Species: Phragmites karka (Retz.) Trin. ex Steud. in Nomencl. Bot., ed. 2. 2: 324 (1841)

HOMOTYPIC SYNONYMS

Arundo karka Retz. in Observ. Bot. 4: 21 (1786)
Arundo roxburghii Kunth in Révis. Gramin. 1: 79 (1829)
Calamagrostis karka (Retz.) J.F.Gmel. in Syst. Nat., ed. 13[bis].: 172 (1791)
Phragmites roxburghii Steud. in Nomencl. Bot., ed. 2. 2: 324 (1841)
Trichoon karka (Retz.) Roth in Arch. Bot. (Leipzig) 1(3): 37 (1798)
Trichoon roxburghii W.Wight in Contr. U.S. Natl. Herb. 9: 390 (1905)

HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS

Arundo corea Rottler ex Hook.f. in Fl. Brit. India 7: 304 (1896)
Arundo tecta Blanco in Fl. Filip.: 48 (1837)
Arundo tibialis Roxb. ex Wall. in Numer. List: n.° 5017B (1831)
Arundo vallatoria L. in Herb. Amb.: 15 (1754)
Oxyanthe japonica (Steud.) Steud. in Syn. Pl. Glumac. 1: 197 (1854)
Phragmites bifarius Wight ex Hook.f. (1896)
Phragmites cinctus (Hook.f.) B.S.Sun in Fl. Yunnanica 9: 224 (2003)
Phragmites communis var. zeylanicus Nees in Gramineae: 41 (1841)
Phragmites karka var. cinctus Hook.f. (1896)
Phragmites laxiflorus Steud. (1854)
Phragmites nepalensis Nees ex Steud. (1854)
Phragmites vallatorius (L.) Veldkamp in Blumea 37: 233 (1992)
Sericura japonica Steud. in Flora 29: 20 (1846)

PUBLICATIONS

Aedo, C., Tellería, M.T. & Velayos, M. (eds.) (1999). Bases Documentales para la Flora de Guinea Ecuatorial; Plantas vascularis y hongos: 1-414. CSIC, real jardín Botánico, Madrid.

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Boudet, G., Lebrun, J.P. & Demange, R. (1986). Catalogue des plantes vasculaires du Mali: 1-465. Etudes d'Elevage et de Médecine Vétérinaire des Pays Tropicaux.

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Catarino, L., Sampaio Martins, E., Pinto-Basto, M.F. & Diniz, M.A. (2006). Plantas Vasculares e Briófitos da Guiné-Bissau: 1-298. Instituto de investigação científica tropical, Instituto Português de apoio ao desenvolvimento.

Chang, C.S., Kim, H. & Chang, K.S. (2014). Provisional checklist of vascular plants for the Korea peninsula flora (KPF): 1-660. DESIGNPOST.

Clayton, W.D. (1970). Gramineae. Flora of Tropical East Africa 1: 1-176.

Clayton, W.D., Harman, K.T. & Williamson, H. (2006). World Grass Species - Synonymy database The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Cope, T.A. (1982). Flora of Pakistan 143: 1-678. Department of Botany, University of Karachi, Karachi.

Cope, T.A., Knees, S.G. & Miller, A.G. (2007). Flora of the Arabian peninsula and Socotra 5(1): 1-387. Edinburgh University Press.

Darbyshire, I., Kordofani, M., Farag, I., Candiga, R. & Pickering, H. (eds.) (2015). The Plants of Sudan and South Sudan: 1-400. Kew publishing, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Dassanayake (ed.) (1994). A Revised Handbook to the Flora of Ceylon 8: 1-458. Oxford & IBH Publishing Co. PVT. LTD., New Delhi, Calcutta.

Exell, A.W. (1973). Angiosperms of the islands of the gulf of Guinea (Fernando Po, Príncipe, S.Tomé, and Annobon). Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History). Botany 4: 325-411.

Hedberg, I. & Edwards, S. (eds.) (1995). Flora of Ethiopia and Eritrea 7: 1-430. The National Herbarium, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia & The Department of Systematic Botany, Upps.

Henty, E.E. (1969). A manual of the grasses of New Guinea: 1-215. Division of Botany, Dpt. of Forests, LAE, New Guinea.

Hepper, F.N. (ed.) (1972). Flora of West Tropical Africa, ed. 2, 3(2): 277-574.

Iwatsuki, K., Boufford, D.E. & Ohba, H. (eds.) (2020). Flora of Japan IVa: 1-430. Kodansha Ltd., Tokyo.

Jones, M. (1991). A checklist of Gambian plants: 1-33. Michael Jones, The Gambia College.

Kandwal, M.K. & Gupta, B.K. (2009). An update on grass flora of Uttarkhand. Indian Journal of Forestry 32: 657-668.

Karthikeyan, S., Jain, S.K., Nayar, M.P. & Sanjappa, M. (1989). Florae Indicae Enumeratio: Monocotyledonae: 1-435. Botanical Survey of India, Calcutta.

Kotiya, A., Solanki, Y. & Reddy, G.V. (2020). Flora of Rajasthan: 1-769. Rajasthan state biodiversity board.

Koyama, T. (1987). Grasses of Japan and its neighboring regions: an identification manual: 1-570. Kodansha, Tokyo, Japan.

Lebrun, J.P. (1973). Énumération des plantes vasculaires du Sénégal: 1-209. Maisons Alfort: Institut d'élevage et de médecine vétérinaire des pays tropicaux.

Lee, W.T. (1996). Lineamenta Florae Koreae: 1-1688. Soul T'ukpyolsi: Ak'ademi Sojok.

Middleton, D.J. & al. (eds.) (2019). Flora of Singapore 7: 1-525. Singapore Botanic Gardens.

Mosti, S., Raffaelli, M. & Tardelli, M. (2012). Contributions to the flora of central-southern Dhofar (Sultanate of Oman). Webbia; Raccolta de Scritti Botanici 67: 65-91.

Newman, M., Ketphanh, S., Svengsuksa, B., Thomas, P., Sengdala, K., Lamxay, V. & Armstrong, K. (2007). A checklist of the vascular plants of Lao PDR: 1-394. Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh.

Noltie, H.J. (2000). Flora of Bhutan 3(2): 457-883. Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh.

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Pandey, R.P. & Dilwakar, P.G. (2008). An integrated check-list flora of Andaman and Nicobar islands, India. Journal of Economic and Taxonomic Botany 32: 403-500.

Peyre de Fabregues, B. & Lebrun, J.-P. (1976). Catalogue des Plantes Vascularies du Niger: 1-433. Institut d' Elevage et de Médecine Vétérinaire des Pays Tropicaux, Maisons Alfort.

Prasanna, P.V. & al. (eds.) (2024). Flora of India 32: 1-694. Botanical Survey of India.

Press, J.R. et al. (2000). Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal: i-x, 1-430. Natural History Museum, London.

Thiombiano, A., Schmidt, M., Dressler, S., Ouédraogo, A., Hahn, K. & Zizka, G. (2012). Catalogue des plantes vasculaires du Burkina Faso. Boissiera 65: 1-391.

Thulin, M. (ed.) (1995). Flora of Somalia 4: i-ii, 1-298. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Walker, E.H. (1976). Flora of Okinawa and the southern Ryukyu islands: 1-1159. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C., U.S.A.

Wood, J.R.I. (1997). A Handbook of the Yemen Flora: 1-434. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Wu, Z. & Raven, P.H. (eds.) (2006). Poaceae. Flora of China 22: 1-733. Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis.

VERNACULAR NAME

Arabic: قصب أسيوي - قصب طويل
Assamese: Nal, Nalkhagari
Bali: Parumpung, Parungpung
Bengali: নাল Nal
Chinese (simplified): 卡开芦 - 开卡芦
Chinese (traditional): 開卡蘆 - 卡開蘆 - 水竹
English: Tall reed, Asian reed, Water reed
Hindi: नल - नरकुल - डोका-घास - किलक Nal, Narkul, Doka-ghas, Kilak
Hong Kong: 卡開蘆 - 水竹 - 卡開蘆 - 水竹
Indonesian: Perumpung
Japanese: セイタカヨシ
Java: Prumpung, Plumpung, Glagah asu
Kannada: Hulugila hullu
Madura: Parongpong
Malayalam: Nain-canna, Nadam
Maluku: Tatepal, Tatupele, Tuyu, Kasim, Biet, Cèo-cèo, Lolo dowongi
Manipuri: Tou
Marathi: Nala
Minahasa: Atowong, Gumulongo
Nepali: नरकट Narkat
Oriya: Potagala
Sanskrit: Dhamana, Nala
Sunda: Bayongbong, Palungpung, gayonggong, kasongkèt
Tamil: பெருநானல் - நாளம் Perunanal, Nalam
Telugu: Eela karra, Nagasaramu-peepalu
Thai: แขม

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