|
Note - this takes you off
of our website |
GrassBase - The Online World Grass Flora
Descriptions
W.D. Clayton, M. Vorontsova, K.T. Harman & H. Williamson
© Copyright The Board of Trustees, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
Cortaderia selloana
HABIT Perennial; caespitose; clumped densely. Culms 100–300 cm long. Ligule a fringe of hairs; 3–5 mm long. Leaf-blades 60–200 cm long; 3–12 mm wide; coriaceous; stiff. Leaf-blade margins scabrous.
INFLORESCENCE Dioecious (by loss of viability in bisexual plants), or gynodioecious ("male", in this context, indicating the bisexual state). Inflorescence a panicle.
Panicle open; ovate; dense; 25–100 cm long.
Spikelets solitary. Fertile spikelets pedicelled. Male spikelets pedicelled.
FERTILE SPIKELETS Spikelets comprising 3–7 fertile florets; with diminished florets at the apex. Spikelets lanceolate; laterally compressed; 12–18 mm long; breaking up at maturity; disarticulating below each fertile floret. Floret callus elongated; 0.5 mm long; pilose.
GLUMES Glumes similar; shorter than spikelet; similar to fertile lemma in texture; shiny. Lower glume lanceolate; 8–14 mm long; 1 length of upper glume; hyaline; without keels; 1 -veined. Lower glume lateral veins absent. Lower glume apex attenuate. Upper glume lanceolate; 8–14 mm long; 0.7 length of adjacent fertile lemma; hyaline; without keels; 1 -veined. Upper glume lateral veins absent. Upper glume apex attenuate.
FLORETS Fertile florets female. Fertile lemma lanceolate; 9–18 mm long; hyaline; pallid, or purple; shiny; without keel; 3 -veined. Lemma surface villous; hairy below. Lemma hairs 4–8 mm long. Lemma apex setaceously attenuate. Palea 0.3 length of lemma; hyaline; 2 -veined. Palea keels scabrous. Apical sterile florets resembling fertile though underdeveloped.
FLOWER Lodicules 2; cuneate; fleshy; ciliate. Staminodes present; 0.1–0.3 mm long.
MALE Male inflorescence sometimes bisexual similar to female; a panicle. Male spikelets distinct from female (glabrous).
DISTRIBUTION Europe: northern, southwestern, and eastern. Africa: north, Macaronesia, southern tropical, and south. Asia-temperate: Soviet Middle Asia, Caucasus, western Asia, China, and eastern Asia. Asia-tropical: Malesia. Australasia: Australia and New Zealand. Pacific: north-central. North America: southwest USA and Mexico. South America: Mesoamericana, northern South America, western South America, Brazil, and southern South America.
NOTES Arundineae. Gould.
Please cite this publication as detailed in How to Cite Version: 3rd February 2016.
