Cortaderia is a genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of 20-25 species of grass

Grass

Grasses, or more technically graminoids, are monocotyledonous, usually herbaceous plants with narrow leaves growing from the base. They include the "true grasses", of the Poaceae family, as well as the sedges and the rushes . The true grasses include cereals, bamboo and the grasses of lawns ...

es in the family Poaceae

Poaceae

The Poaceae is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of flowering plants. Members of this family are commonly called grasses, although the term "grass" is also applied to plants that are not in the Poaceae lineage, including the rushes and sedges...

. Members of the genus are native to South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

 (15-20 species), New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 (four species) and New Guinea

New Guinea

New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...

 (one species). The name of the genus is derived from the Argentine Spanish word cortadera, which in turn refers to the sharp serrations on the leaves. Cortaderia jubata

Cortaderia jubata

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...

and C. rudiuscula produce copious seed asexually

Asexual reproduction

Asexual reproduction is a mode of reproduction by which offspring arise from a single parent, and inherit the genes of that parent only, it is reproduction which does not involve meiosis, ploidy reduction, or fertilization. A more stringent definition is agamogenesis which is reproduction without...

.

Selected species

• Cortaderia araucana Stapf
• Cortaderia bifida Pilg.
• Cortaderia fulvida – Toetoe
  Toetoe
  Toetoe are four species of tall grasses native to New Zealand and members of the Cortaderia genus. The species are C. toetoe, C. fulvida, C. splendens and C. richardii. The name toetoe comes from the Māori language.Two closely related South America species of Cortaderia, C. jubata and C...
  
   (New Zealand)
• Cortaderia jubata
  Cortaderia jubata
  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...
  
  (Lemoine ex Carrière) Stapf (syn. C. quila) – Andean Pampas Grass (Andes
  Andes
  The Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...
  
   of Northwestern South America)
• Cortaderia pilosa (d'Urv.) Hack.
• Cortaderia richardii – Toetoe (New Zealand)
• Cortaderia rudiuscula Stapf (central Andes of South America)
• Cortaderia selloana (Schult. & Schult.f.) Asch. & Graebn. – Pampas Grass (Southern South America)
• Cortaderia splendens – Toetoe (New Zealand)
• Cortaderia toetoe – Toetoe (New Zealand)

Formerly placed here

• Chionochloa conspicua subsp. conspicua (as C. conspicua (G.Forst.) Stapf)

Cultivation

The species of Cortaderia are imposing tall grasses growing 1.5-3 m tall, with graceful white inflorescence plumes. They are in widespread use as ornamental plant

Ornamental plant

Ornamental plants are plants that are grown for decorative purposes in gardens and landscape design projects, as house plants, for cut flowers and specimen display...

s in horticultural use. The common name Pampas Grass, though strictly referring to C. selloana, is frequently applied to all species in the genus (and sometimes also, incorrectly, to Erianthus and Saccharum ravennae

Saccharum ravennae

Saccharum ravennae, with the common name Ravennagrass and locally known as ekra, is a species of grass in genus the Saccharum, the sugarcane genus...

).

Some species, notably C. selloana, C. jubata and C. rudiuscula, have become invasive species

Invasive species

"Invasive species", or invasive exotics, is a nomenclature term and categorization phrase used for flora and fauna, and for specific restoration-preservation processes in native habitats, with several definitions....

 in a number of areas, including New Zealand, Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

, and regions with a Mediterranean climate

Mediterranean climate

A Mediterranean climate is the climate typical of most of the lands in the Mediterranean Basin, and is a particular variety of subtropical climate...

.