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Cortaderia selloana

Common name:	Pampas Grass	Family:	Gramineae
Author:	(Schult.& Schult.f.)Asch.& Graebn.	Botanical references:	200
Synonyms:	Gynerium argenteum, Cortaderia argentea ((Nees.)Stapf.)
Known Hazards:	None known
Range:	S. America - temperate areas. Sometimes persists in Britain as a garden throw-out[17].
Habitat:	Moist sandy soils[187] on river banks and mountains in Chile[139].
Edibility Rating (1-5):	0	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	0

Other Possible Synonyms:	From various places across the web, may not be correct. See below.
	Arundo selloana[G] C. dioica[B,P]
Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Pampas Grass [H], Uruguayan Pampas Grass [P,B], White Pampas Grass [H],
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Cyperales. Renamed to Poaceae -- Grass family
Noxious, Invasive and Injurious Weeds	From USDA PLANTS database, Weeds Australia , DEFRA Injurious Weeds
	Listed as noxious/invasive for: New South Wales, Western Australia.

Physical Characteristics

An evergreen perennial growing to 3m by 1.2m . It is hardy to zone 5 and is not frost tender. It is in leaf all year, in flower from August to October, and the seeds ripen from October to November. The flowers are dioecious (individual flowers are either male or female, but only one sex is to be found on any one plant so both male and female plants must be grown if seed is required) and are pollinated by Wind. The plant not is self-fertile. We rate it 0/5 for edibility and 0/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils and requires well-drained soil. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It requires dry or moist soil. The plant can tolerates strong winds but not maritime exposure.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Lawn.

Edible Uses

None known

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

None known

Other Uses

Fibre Paper.

A fibre obtained from the leaves is used for making paper[46, 61, 74, 189]. The leaves are harvested in the autumn, they are cut into usable pieces and soaked for 24 hours in clear water. They are then cooked for 2 hours with lye and then beaten in a blender. The fibre makes a yellow paper[189].

Cultivation details

Succeeds in most soils, preferring a damp well-drained sandy or loamy soil[1]. Inclined to be intolerant of cold clay soils[162]. Succeeds in dry soils. Prefers a sunny sheltered position[1, 162, 200]. Very tolerant of maritime exposure[K].
This species is hardy to about -20° c[187] if the winter is not excessively wet, though it is intolerant of prolonged periods of cold weather.
Pampas grass is occasionally cultivated in some areas for its fibre which is used in making paper.
Plants grow well as a focal point in a lawn and they also succeed in quite coarse grass[1, 233]. A number of named forms have been selected for their ornamental value[187, 200].
The leaves have saw-toothed edges, it is best to wear gloves when working with the plant[200].
Members of this genus are rarely if ever troubled by browsing deer or rabbits[233].
Dioecious. Male and female plants must be grown if seed is required[200]. The inflorescence on the male plant is rather erect whilst it has wide spreading branches on the female[187].

Propagation

Seed - surface sow March/April in a greenhouse. The seed usually germinates in 2 - 3 weeks at 15° c. Keep the soil moist. The seed has a short viability[200]. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and grow them on in the greenhouse for at least their first winter. Plant them out into their permanent positions in late spring or early summer, after the last expected frosts.
Division in late spring[1]. It can be very difficult to obtain divisions from this plant because they tend to be very large and to be very close to the main clump. We have found it best to use a sharp spade to cut into the main clump and break off the divisions. These are then potted up in light shade in a cold frame and are planted out once they have rooted well and are in active growth.

Cultivars

'': There are some named forms for this species, but these have been developed for their ornamental value and not for their other uses. Unless you particularly require the special characteristics of any of these cultivars, we would generally recommend that you grow the natural species for its useful properties. We have, therefore, not listed the cultivars in this database[K].

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

Web References

[H] Details of Scandanavian and European Common names in Henriette's names database
[V] Images from the Vascular Plant Image Gallery of the Texas A& M Bioinformatics Working Group.
[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[C] Taxon data. from the CalFlora database.
Images from the CalPhoto database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

References for Gynerium argenteum (a possible synonym).

[H] Details of Scandanavian and European Common names in Henriette's names database

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[K] Ken Fern
Notes from observations, tasting etc at Plants For A Future and on field trips.

[1] F. Chittendon. RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 Oxford University Press 1951
Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaces in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [200]).

[17] Clapham, Tootin and Warburg. Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press 1962
A very comprehensive flora, the standard reference book but it has no pictures.

[46] Uphof. J. C. Th. Dictionary of Economic Plants. Weinheim 1959
An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.

[61] Usher. G. A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man. Constable 1974 ISBN 0094579202
Forget the sexist title, this is one of the best books on the subject. Lists a very extensive range of useful plants from around the world with very brief details of the uses. Not for the casual reader.

[74] Komarov. V. L. Flora of the USSR. Israel Program for Scientific Translation 1968
An immense (25 or more large volumes) and not yet completed translation of the Russian flora. Full of information on plant uses and habitats but heavy going for casual readers.

[139] ? Flora of Chile. (in Spanish)
Some information about the useful plants of Chile.

[162] Grounds. R. Ornamental Grasses. Christopher Helm 1989 ISBN 0-7470-1219-9
Cultivation details of many of the grasses and bamboos. Well illustrated.

[187] Phillips. R. & Rix. M. Perennials Volumes 1 and 2. Pan Books 1991 ISBN 0-330-30936-9
Photographs of over 3,000 species and cultivars of ornamental plants together with brief cultivation notes, details of habitat etc.

[189] Bell. L. A. Plant Fibres for Papermaking. Liliaceae Press 1988
A good practical section on how to make paper on a small scale plus details of about 75 species (quite a few of them tropical) that can be used.

[200] Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

[233] Thomas. G. S. Perennial Garden Plants J. M. Dent & Sons, London. 1990 ISBN 0 460 86048 8
A concise guide to a wide range of perennials. Lots of cultivation guides, very little on plant uses.

Readers Comments

Cortaderia selloana

david nicholls (davidni@xtra co.nz) Mon Mar 6 09:50:11 2000

Other useful Cortaderias. There are four species of Cortaderia native here in New Zealand, which I think might be of interest as they have similar landscaping uses:barriers and low windbreaks, look much the same and are similar in size. I think some of the following uses might also work with Cortaderia selloana The leaves were used by Maori for making mats ,kites, baskets and containers for steeping and boiling food in water The flower heads wre used for sieves or strainers ( this could be of use again when we run out of metal for kitchen utensils) The heads were also used to stop the flow of blood (from wounds I guess) The base of the leaf was chewed for diarrhoea and kidney problems.

Crow says he finds the base of the stem the most palatable part but says some have tried the apparantly hard roots as food.

I chewed on several leaf bases yesterday and found them to be good thirst quenchers, you have to chew and suck out the flesh from around inedible fibres, taste not bitter or sweet, perhaps mushy potato chip-ish. A cigarette substitute perhaps( the sucking).

Crow lists it in the back of his excellent book under somewhat uncertain edibles so care would be advised.

The main native species sold here are Cortaderi toe toe & C.fulvida, no idea if available overseas.

References:

A field Guide to the native edilbe plants of new zealand- A. Crow, New Zealand Medicinal Plants-- broker,cambie,cooper Encylopaedea of New Zealand-Ed Mclintock Economic Plants of New Zealand

Details of Growing Condition: New Zealand Temperate very exposed to gales and sea, even seems to survive sheep.

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