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Species
Cortaderia jubata (Lem.) Stapf
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Cortaderia jubata is a species of grass known by several common names, including Purple pampas grass and Andean pampas grass. It is similar to its more widespread relative, the Pampas Grass C. selloana, but it can get quite a bit taller, approaching seven meters in height at maximum.
This grass is native to the northern Andes but it is well-known elsewhere as an invasive species noxious weed. This grass has only pistillate parts, that is, all individuals are female. It reproduces by apomixis, in which embryos develop without fertilization.
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Description[edit]
This pampas grass, Cortaderia jubata, has long, thin, razor-edged leaves forming a large bunch grass tussock from which the eye-catching inflorescences arise. At the top of a stem several meters in height is an inflorescence of plumelike spikelets. These panicles are pink or purplish when new and they gradually turn cream or white. Each inflorescence is packed full of fruits which develop despite the plant's having never been fertilized. Each plant produces millions of seeds per year. They disperse easily by several methods, including wind, water, and soil transport.
Invasive species[edit]
New Zealand[edit]
In New Zealand C. jubata is listed on the National Pest Plant Accord prohibiting it from sale, and commercial propagation and distribution.[1]
United States[edit]
Cortaderia jubata grows well in the conditions provided by the cool, moist California coast, where it was presumably an introduced species as an attractive ornamental plant.[citation needed] It is a common weed of Redwood National and State Parks, the Central Coast region, and Big Sur, as well as other coastal hillsides and roadsides throughout the state. The plant competes with native vegetation, interferes with the natural scenery of the unique ecosystems and habitats (i.e. Redwood and Coastal sage scrub), harbors pest species such as rats, and produces large amounts of dry foliage which is a wildfire hazard.
References[edit]
- ^ "National Pest Plant Accord 2008". 2008. Retrieved 2009-01-26.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Wikipedia |
Source | http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cortaderia_jubata&oldid=653475776 |
United States
Origin: Exotic
Regularity: Regularly occurring
Currently: Unknown/Undetermined
Confidence: Confident
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | NatureServe |
Source | http://explorer.natureserve.org/servlet/NatureServe?searchName=Cortaderia+jubata |
Global Range: Ecuador and Peru to Argentina; established as an exotic elsewhere, including North America and New Zealand.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | NatureServe |
Source | http://explorer.natureserve.org/servlet/NatureServe?searchName=Cortaderia+jubata |
Perennials, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Stem s nodes swollen or brittle, Stems erect or ascending, Stems caespitose, tufted, or clustered, Stems terete, round in cross section, or polygonal, Stem internodes hollow, Stems with inflorescence 1-2 m tall, Stems with inflorescence 2-6 m tall, Stems with inflorescence 6 m or taller, Stems, culms, or scapes exceeding basal leaves, Leaves mostly basal, below middle of stem, Leaves conspicuously 2-ranked, distichous, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf sheath mostly open, or loose, Leaf sheath hairy, hispid or prickly, Leaf sheath hairy at summit, throat, or collar, Leaf sheath and blade differentiated, Leaf blades linear, Leaf blades 2-10 mm wide, Leaf blades 1-2 cm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, Leaf blade margins folded, involute, or conduplicate, Leaf blade with prominently raised or widened midvein, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, Leaf blades more or less hairy, Ligule present, Ligule an unfringed eciliate membrane, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence an open panicle, openly pan iculate, branches spreading, Inflorescence solitary, with 1 spike, fascicle, glomerule, head, or cluster per stem or culm, Inflorescence branches more than 10 to numerous, Flowers unisexual, Plants dioecious, Spikelets pedicellate, Spikelets laterally compressed, Spikelet less than 3 mm wide, Spikelets with 3-7 florets, Spikelets solitary at rachis nodes, Spikelets all alike and fertille, Spikelets unisexual, Spikelets disarticulating above the glumes, glumes persistent, Spikelets disarticulating beneath or between the florets, Spikelets conspicuously hairy , Rachilla or pedicel glabrous, Glumes present, empty bracts, Glumes 2 clearly present, Glumes equal or subequal, Glumes distinctly unequal, Glumes equal to or longer than adjacent lemma, Glume equal to or longer than spikelet, Glumes 1 nerved, Lemma similar in texture to glumes, Lemma 3 nerved, Lemma body or surface hairy, Lemma apex acute or acuminate, Lemma awnless, Lemma margins thin, lying flat, Lemma straight, Callu s or base of lemma evidently hairy, Callus hairs shorter than lemma, Lemma surface pilose, setose or bristly, Palea present, well developed, Palea membranous, hyaline, Palea shorter than lemma, Palea 2 nerved or 2 keeled, Palea keels winged, scabrous, or ciliate, Stamens 3, Styles 2-fid, deeply 2-branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis, Caryopsis ellipsoid, longitudinally grooved, hilum long-linear.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Compiled from several sources by Dr. David Bogler, Missouri Botanical Garden in collaboration with the USDA NRCS NPDC |
Source | http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=COJU2 |
Distinguished from C. selloana by the looser, yellowish or purplish panicle and somewhat smaller spikelets; only female plants are known (Bailey 1976).
Type collection for Gynerium quila var. pygmaeum Nees
Catalog Number: US 101620
Collection: Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Botany
Verification Degree: Status verified by specimen annotations only
Preparation: Pressed specimen
Collector(s): F. J. F. Meyen
Locality: Lake Titicaca, Peru, South America
- Type collection: Nees von Esenbeck, C. G. D. 1841. Nova Acta Acad. Caes. Leop.-Carol. German. Nat. Cur. 19 (suppl. 1): 153.
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Rights holder/Author | This image was obtained from the Smithsonian Institution. Unless otherwise noted, this image or its contents may be protected by international copyright laws. |
Source | http://collections.mnh.si.edu/search/botany/?irn=11230574 |
Comments: Sometimes cultivated as an ornamental.
Persistence: PERENNIAL
United States
Rounded National Status Rank: NNA - Not Applicable
Rounded Global Status Rank: G5 - Secure
Reasons: Widespread in southern South America.