Purple pampasgrass is a large, tufted, perennial grass native to South America. Leaves are basal, ascending to spreading, bright green, sharply serrated and can reach to 5 ft. (1.5 m) in height. All plants are female and develop seed through apomixis. Flowering occurs in late summer to early fall, when 1-3.3 ft. (0.3-1 m) long, purple-tinged plumes develop over the tufts of leaves. Each plume can produce up to 100,000 seeds. Purple pampasgrass invades roadsides, dunes, bluffs and other disturbed areas. Plants also invade coastal shrub and grasslands. 

Citations
Rawlins, K.A., R.L. Winston, C.T. Bargeron, D.J. Moorhead, and R. Carroll. 2018. New Invaders of the Southeast. USDA Forest Service, Forest Health Assessment and Applied Sciences Team, Morgantown, West Virginia. FHTET-2017-05. Retrieved from http://bugwoodcloud.org/resource/pdf/FHTET-2017-05_New%20Invaders_SE.pdf

Winston, R.L., Andreas, J.E., Milan, J., DesCamp, W., Randell, C.B., and M. Schwarzländer. 2014. New Invaders of the Northwest. United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Health Technology Enterprise Team. FHTET-2014-12. Retrieved from https://www.fs.fed.us/foresthealth/technology/pdfs/FHTET-2014-12_NW_New_Invaders.pdf
 

Resources


Selected Images



Maps



EDDMapS Distribution - This map is incomplete and is based only on current site and county level reports made by experts, herbaria, and literature. For more information, visit www.eddmaps.org

State Regulated List

State Lists - This map identifies those states that have this species on their invasive species list or law.

Taxonomic Rank


Domain: Eukarya
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Superorder: Lilianae Takhtajan
Order: Poales
Family: Poaceae Barnhart
Subfamily: Danthonioideae DC.
Tribe: Danthonieae DC.
Genus: Cortaderia Stapf
Cortaderia jubata (Lem.) Stapf

Synonyms and Other Names


Other Common Names:
Andean pampas grass, jubatagrass, purple pampasgrass, selloa pampasgrass

Related Scientific Names:
Cortaderia atacamensis (Lem.) Stapf (Synonym)