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Interactive Botanical Tour
Point No. 4
Species: Cortaderia selloana
Family: Poaceae
Photo 173109660, (c) Fernando de Gorocica, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)
Description
Pampas grass is a pretty, unique and large flowering grass that falls under invasive species in South Africa. It originates from South America including the Pampas region where it got its common name. It is a tussock grass that grows up to 3.5m in diameter and has flowering stocks that are about 4m high. The leaves are razor sharp, long and slender with narrow tapering tips and coloured grey or dark green. In the cross-section, it is V-shaped with rough margins.
It flowers from February up to April with flowers that are feather-like with a silvery-white to pink colour. Its fruits are produced from an open panicle containing a large number of seeds. The seeds are oval shaped with a tan crusty shell. Pampas grass is related to the very distinct purple pampas grass, Cortaderia jubata.
Purple Pampas grass. Photo 27335442, (c) socalwombat, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by socalwombat
Originally pampas grass was introduced to California by sailors during the gold rush5. Around 1872, an industry was created when Mr Sextom imported pampas seeds from Argentina and made a few hundreds more. He then sent samples to San Francisco and they further sent some to Europe and other parts of the world. The highly flammable nature of this grass was discovered in Santa Barbara at the “Battle of the flowers” concert. The grass was torched and instantly enveloped into flames. The grass was then prohibited to be used as a public decoration in Santa Barbara.
The grassland biome is the natural habitat of the pampas grass where it is characterised by moist areas with a pretty hot climate. They grow best in places filled with sunlight and damp ground. Some also manage to grow best in shallow moist ravines and small stream bank3. All in all these plants can grow in any habitat due to its deep root system enabling it to survive even in the driest seasons. They can grow in rocky, flooded, dry and damped areas. In the northern climate, pampas leaves die during frosts and manage to grow back in spring.
The grass spreads by dispersal of seeds and rhizomes. In South Africa, it is mostly found in Western Cape, Eastern Cape, KZN and certain parts of Gauteng. In South Africa all parts of this grass are deemed Category 1b invasive species1. It is not an endangered plant. It is considered a prolific plant due to its ability to produce a very large seed output. Due to this, they are banned in New Zealand and Hawaii and placed on their noxious weed list4. This grass bears male and female flowers on different plant
. Female plumes (broad and full due to flowers covered by silky hairs) are much more visible than that of males (flowers lack silky hairs). The overall female pampas are prettier and have fuller flowers.
History at University of Pretoria
The pampas grass on campus was planted as part of the monocot garden in 1983. The garden was originally established for education, illustrating the differences between monocots and dicots.
Uses
Pampas grass has been used as an ornament and decor (decoration) due to the large and plume-like flowers it produces. It has also been used as a mine dump and tailing stabiliser due to its ability to grow in soil that is nutrient poor. It is also used as a focal point in landscape, providing colour to nearby plant. Most commonly, pampas grass is used as a hedge due to the stiff stems and razor-sharp leaves.
Text prepared by Patience Mhlongo, 2022 BOT 366 class.
Cited sources:
2. The University of Georgia (1785)
https://extension.uga.edu/publications/detail.html?number=C983
3. Blue Plant Biomes
https://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/pampas_grass.php?biome=pampas
4. Gilman, Edward "cortaderia selloana" fact sheet fps-145 University of Florida 1999
5. goletahistory.com
https://goletahistory.com/pampas-grass/
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