Cortaderia selloana
Cortaderia jubata
pampas grass, silver pampas grass, Uruguayan pampas grass
Andean pampas grass, jubata grass, purple pampas grass, selloa pampasgrass
2-4 m, usually 2-4 times as long as the panicles.
2-7 m, 4-7 times as long as the panicles.
primarily basal;
sheaths mostly glabrous, with a dense tuft of hairs at the collars;
ligules 1-2 mm;
blades to 2 m long, 3-8 cm wide, mostly flat, cauline, ascending, arching, bluish-green, abaxial surfaces glabrous basally.
primarily basal;
sheaths hairy, sometimes densely so;
ligules 1-2 mm;
blades 1 m long or longer, 2-10 cm wide, mostly flat, often horizontal, dark green, abaxial surfaces hairy near the base.
30-130 cm, only slightly, if at all, elevated above the foliage, whitish or pinkish when young.
30-100 cm, elevated well above the basal foliage, deep violet when young.
15-17 mm;
calluses to 1 mm, with hairs to 2 mm;
lemmas long-attenuate to an awn, awns 2.5-5 mm;
paleas to 4 mm;
stigmas exerted.
14-16 mm, pistillate;
florets readily disarticulating;
calluses about 0.6 mm;
lemmas about 10 mm, long-attenuate to an awn, awns to 1 mm;
paleas to 4 mm, keels ciliate, apical hairs extending beyond the body of the paleas;
stigmas usually not exerted.
and florets not separating easily from the rachilla.
to 2.5 mm;
embryos to 1 mm.
= 72.
= 108.
Cortaderia selloana
Cortaderia jubata
Cortaderia selloana is native to central South America. It is cultivated as an ornamental in the warmer parts of North America. It was thought that it would not become a weed problem because most plants sold as ornamentals are unisexual, but it is now considered an aggressive weed in California and Bendigo, Australia. The weedy Australian plants are bisexual (Walsh 1994).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Cortaderia jubata is found on the west coast of the coterminus United States, growing in disturbed, open ground such as brushy slopes, eroded banks and cliffs, road cuts, cut-over timber areas, and sand dunes. It is native to mountainous areas of Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. It was grown in the past as an ornamental because of its attractive panicles, but is now a serious weed in California, reproducing apomictically and invading many open habitats. It was mistakenly called C. rudiuscula Stapf by Hitchcock (1951). The florets of C. rudiuscula differ from those of C. jubata in being longer and narrower, having shorter, less hairy calluses, and in having no hairs that extend beyond the top of the palea. C. rudiuscula is not known from North America.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
- Local floras:
CA, 
OR, 
WA - Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos,
Flora NW, 
LA Plants, 
PNW Herbaria 
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist (observations)
USDA Plants Database- LBJ Wildflower Center
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- Local floras: CA, OR, WA
- Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos, Flora NW, PNW Herbaria
- WildflowerSearch
- iNaturalist (observations)
- USDA Plants Database
- LBJ Wildflower Center
- SEINet
- Plants of the World Online
- Encyclopedia of Life
- Wikipedia
- Google Image Search
