''Cortaderia selloana'' is a species of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

in the family

Poaceae Poaceae ( ), also called Gramineae ( ), is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos, the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivate ...

. It is referred to by the common name pampas grass, and is native to southern South America, including the Pampas region after which it is named. It is widely distributed throughout the world as a cultivated ornamental and

invasive species An invasive species is an introduced species that harms its new environment. Invasive species adversely affect habitats and bioregions, causing ecological, environmental, and/or economic damage. The term can also be used for native spec ...

Etymology

''Cortaderia'' is derived from the Argentine Spanish name 'cortadera', meaning 'cutter', in reference to its razor sharp leaf margins.Gledhill, David (2008). "The Names of Plants". Cambridge University Press. (hardback), (paperback). pp 122, 348 ''Selloana'' is named for Friedrich Sellow (1789–1831), a German botanist and naturalist from

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and largest city of the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the Havel, River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

who worked as a plant collector in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. He studied the flora of

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

, especially that of Brazil. The specific epithet ''selloana'' was given by Josef August and Julius Hermann Schultes in 1827. PampasGrass

Ecology

The native range of ''C. selloana'' includes Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay. This region is dominated by tropical forests and grasslands, but C. selloana is typically restricted to moist soil within riparian areas. It is found at lower elevations and at moister sites than the closely related C. jubata. It requires areas with plentiful light and soil moisture. It is a common invasive species in temperate regions around the world, where it can be found growing in moist, disturbed soil.

Control

Pampas grass can be controlled through herbicide treatment. To accomplish this, the grass is cut down near the base. Next, a 2% glyphosate chemical solution is combined with a silicone-based surfactant and applied to enhance the penetration potential. This method works best in the fall because there is overall better control compared to other seasons. Another control method is to cut and bag inflorescences to prevent seeds from spreading or pulling seedlings.

Cultivation

Pampas Grass in Jindai Botanical Garden -Japan

Several

cultivar A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...

s are available, of which the following have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. It includes the full range of cultivated p ...

: *Aureolineata *Evita *Monstrosa *Patagonia *Pumila *Silver Feather Notcort *Sunningdale Silver—grows to a height of and has particularly dense flowering plumes

Population biology

Okada ''et al.'', 2007 find ''C. selloana''

population Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...

s are best distinguished by a

Bayesian analysis Thomas Bayes ( ; c. 1701 – 1761) was an English statistician, philosopher, and Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elde ...

of genetic features such as

microsatellite A microsatellite is a tract of repetitive DNA in which certain Sequence motif, DNA motifs (ranging in length from one to six or more base pairs) are repeated, typically 5–50 times. Microsatellites occur at thousands of locations within an organ ...

s. Algorithms such as

STRUCTURE A structure is an arrangement and organization of interrelated elements in a material object or system, or the object or system so organized. Material structures include man-made objects such as buildings and machines and natural objects such as ...

are suitable for this.

In culture

Author Li Hengrui (), whose work ''Kite Capriccio'' () describes life as a child in 1950s Fengtai County,

Anhui Anhui is an inland Provinces of China, province located in East China. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze and Huai rivers, bordering Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the east, Jiang ...

mentions the use of the long stem of the ''Puwei'' (, Chinese for ''Cortaderia selloana'') in the construction of

kite A kite is a tethered heavier than air flight, heavier-than-air craft with wing surfaces that react against the air to create Lift (force), lift and Drag (physics), drag forces. A kite consists of wings, tethers and anchors. Kites often have ...

s. Several media outlets reported in the 2010s that it was planted by some couples who practise swinging in the United Kingdom as a way to indicate to other swingers that they enjoy that lifestyle. The reports caused a plunge in already declining sales, but the odd association has been dismissed by enthusiasts of the plant and gardening experts as "silly".

Diseases

O'Donnell ''et al.'', 2004 first isolated ' from this species. ''F. cortaderiae'' is the cause of Fusarium head blight (FHB) of ''C. selloana''.

Gallery

File:Cortaderia selloana, Serbia.jpg File:Pampas Grass in Jindai Botanical Garden -Japan in 1964.jpg, Jindai Botanical Garden, autumn 1964 File:Cortaderia_selloana_001.JPG File:Cortaderia_selloana_002.JPG File:Cortaderia_selloana_003.JPG, Flower detail File:Unretouched_national_enquirer_scandal_photo.jpg, In California File:Cortadera.jpg, Shrub

References

External links

Pampas grassCortaderia selloanaPampas Grass under the microscopePampas Grass
* {{Authority control Danthonioideae Bunchgrasses of South America Grasses of Argentina Flora of southern South America Flora of Argentina Garden plants of South America Drought-tolerant plants Flora naturalised in Australia Invasive species in Europe Taxa named by Josef August Schultes Taxa named by Julius Hermann Schultes Taxa named by Paul Friedrich August Ascherson Taxa named by Paul Graebner Ornamental grass