GYNANDROPSIS 



GYNERIUM 



708 



kidney-shaped or orbicular, compressed, with a wrinkled 

 or tubercled coat. For culture, see Oleome. 



speciosa, DC. {Cledme specldsa, HBK.). Rather vel- 

 vety towards the top: Ifts. 5-7, subserrulate, oblong, 



acuminate. Mex. 



W. M. 



GYNfiKITJM (Greek, woolly stigmas). Oraminerr. 

 This genus was until 1897 held to include the Pampas 

 Grass {Gyneriam argenteuni), which has long been con- 

 sidered the finest of all tall, plumy grasses, as also the 

 most important, commercially, of all ornamental grasses. 

 Plumes of Pampas Grass are shipped in large quanti- 

 ties from California to Europe, and are dyed various 

 colors. In nature the plumes are silvery white, with 

 varieties ranging from rose to carmine, violet and purple. 

 They are often 2-3 ft. long. Pampas Grass is grown com- 

 mercially only in California. The plumes are not col- 

 lected in South America or shipped therefrom. The 

 plumes of the male plants are much inferior to those of 

 the females, and California growers exercise the greatest 

 care to allow no male plants in the plantation. In this 

 country the plumes are sold chiefly to persons of foreign 

 birth. {'^QQ Everlastings .) As a border plant, the Pampas 

 Grass is not perfectly hardy in the North, the best sub- 

 stitute for it being Mrlanthiis Havennce . Hortic\iltur- 

 ally. Pampas Grass is not to be compared with the Giant 

 Reed {Arundo J)onax), as the two things represent two 

 different types of beauty. The Arundo is valued for its 

 bold habit, of which the tall, reedy stems are an impor- 

 tant feature, while its plumes are wholly incidental, be- 

 ing smaller than those of the Pampas Grass, and often 

 not produced before the northern frosts. 



The plumes of Pampas Grass and of Uva Grass ((?. 

 saccharoides) are both sold in London, and are presum- 

 ably distinguished in the trade, XJva Grass is too tender 

 to be grown even in southern California. In England 

 Pampas Grass is generally hardy, while Uva Grass is 

 known only to a very few hothouses. Uva Grass is the 

 original species of G3merium, and is now considered to 

 be the only species in that genus, the Pampas Grass 

 having been removed in 1897 to the new genus Cortaderia. 

 Pampas Grass should henceforth be catalogued by nur- 

 serymen as Cortaderia argentea. Uva Grass should be 

 tried iu southern gardens, as also another plant said 

 by critics to be far more beautiful than either, namely. 

 Cortaderia juhatay which is chietly known to the trade 

 as Gynerium arcuato-nebiilosiini. 



Pampas Grass can be grown in sheltered spots as far 

 north as Rochester, N. Y., if well protected in winter. A 

 box well filled with dry leaves, hay or straw, and in- 

 verted over the clumps, will generally keep them from 

 harm. Perfect specimens can be obtained only in light, 

 rich soil, with moderate moisture, at least in the early 

 stages of growth. Prop, readily by division in spring, or 

 by seeds, w^hich may produce flowering plants iu 2 

 years. 



The popular name "Pampas Grass "is now unchange- 

 able, but the plant does not grow on the pampas or vast 

 grassy plains of South America, but in the mountains. 

 "All the evidence tends to show that it is confined to 

 the neighborhood of water courses and to depressions 

 where there is a constant and suflicient supply of 

 underground water." The manner in which this mis- 

 leading name became fixed is explained by O. Stapf, 

 of Kew, in his excellent monograph of this group 

 in G.C. III. 22:358, 378,390 (1897). In this place Stapf 

 gives 5 species of Cortaderia, and another is added in 

 B.M. 7607. In S. America the Pampas Grass and some 

 of its allies are called Cortadero ; hence the generic 

 name Cortaderia. Cortaderias are widely distributed in 

 S. America. 



Cortaderia argentea, Stapf (Gynerium arginteum, 

 Nees). Pampas Gkass. Fig. 1010. Grows in individ- 

 ualized, large, thick tussocks : rhizome very short : 

 culms biennial, 3-6 ft. high, excluding the panicle : Ivs. 

 mostly crowded at the base ; sheaths increasing in 

 length from the base upwards from 2 in. to 23-2 ft., sev- 

 eral to many times longer than the internodes : sexual 

 dimorphism of the spikelets slight (apart from the 

 genitalia) : spikelets 3-6-fld., theuppermostflorets more 

 or less rudimentary. For habit sketches, see R.H. 1890, 



p. 489. Gng. 5:89. G.C. III. 26:0.54. J.H. III. .15:43. 

 A.G. 14:323. F.S. 12, p. 179. 



None of the following varietal names have botanical 

 rank, but they probably are fairly distinct horti- 

 culturally, and so far tbey have appeared only in 

 connection with the name Gynerium. Var. mon- 

 strdsimi is perhaps the most robust, and var. nanum 

 (which grows about 3 ft. high), the dwarfest. Tlie 

 others here mentioned are supposed to be the samt- 

 height as the type. A slender form with narrower foli- 

 age is var. 61egans, with Ivs. a fourth of an inch wide 



1010. Pampas Grass. 



and stalks .5-7 ft. bigh. R.H. 1862, p. 150. It has sub- 

 varieties with white striped foliage, var. elegans-niveo- 

 lineatum, and spotted with white, var. elegana-niveo- 

 vittatum. The preceding varieties, except where notea, 

 have the height of the type and white plumes. Tht^ 

 next four varieties difi'er from the type iu having col- 

 ored Illumes : vars. rbseum, violiceum, purptireum and 

 carmineum, the names indicating the different colors. 

 Varieties with white-stripe<l foliage are album varieg^.- 

 tum and Stenackeri Soliis varieg^tis. Varieties with 

 yellow-striped foliage iwc aureum variegatum and Wes- 

 serlingi variegatum. Var. Eoi des Roses was said by 

 John Saul to have foliage striped with rose, but others 

 describe it as a rosy-plumed variety. 



When advertised nn<ler Cortaderia, these names 

 should all have the feminine endings, as monstrosa, etc. 



Cortaderia 3ubS,ta, Stapf (Gynlriiim juhdtum, Lem, 

 G. arcuatn-nehnJosum, Hort. ). Differs from Pampas 

 Grass in the rather laxer, more gr^iceful plume, with 

 longer, more flexuous, nodding branches, somewhat 

 smaller spikelets, more delicate glumes, and in the 

 longer, very slender staminodes of the pistillate fls. 

 The plume is lavender-colored, and the plant has been 

 killed by a temperature of 3*^ F. Grows in a dense 

 tuft, perennial, but with biennial culms: spikelets 3-5- 

 fld. The plume is 1-2 ft. long. B.M. 7607. G.C. III. 

 26:658. Gn. 55, p. 93. R.H. 1885, p. 200. Gn. 15, p. 179. 

 Int. by Lemoine, of Nancy, France. Probable synonyms 

 are G. roseum Kendlateri and G. argpnteuni carmAna- 

 tum JRendJateri. F.S. 20:2075. — Not so well known as 

 the other two species. 



Gynerium saccharoides, Humb. & Bonp. Uva Grass. 

 Rhizome creeping: culms x>erennial, 12-30 ft. high: Ivs. 

 rather evenly distributed over the culm, those near the 

 base gradually withering away, leaving the stem naked 

 4-14 ft. above ground: sheaths nearly equal (except the 

 lowest), about 6 in. long, slightly longer than the inter- 

 nodes: sexual dimorphism of the fls. very conspicuous: 

 spikelets 2-fld. B.M. 7352. — Essentially a more tender 

 plant thau the Pampas Grass. 



J. B. Keller and W. M. 



45 



