THE PAMPAS GRASSES 
175 
make a good addition to our ornamental grasses. 
The lustre of the dense panicles is exquisite 
and their colour probably white, the tinge of 
yellow or bronze in the dry plumes being 
probably due to the action of time. 
C. SPECiosA. — -This is also known to mc only from her- 
barium specimens. Culms rather stout, height unknown, 
uppermost internode over 1 8 inches long. Leaf-blades over 
18 inches long by 2<h lines wide. (I suspect that the leaves 
selected by the collectors do not show the full length, but 
were rather chosen to fit the drying paper.) Panicles 12 
to 15 inches long by 2 to 2i inches wide, oblong, very 
dense, or (in the male) lax, erect, with an elegant silky 
lustre. Spikelets 3 to 4 flowered ; glumes and valves in 
this and the following species decidedly shorter than in 
those first described, glumes 4 to 5-^ lines long, \ line 
wide, with slender, minutely two-toothed tips. Valves with 
very slender tips and the central nerve often prolonged as 
a short bristle, 5 to 6i lines long in the male, somewhat 
shorter in the female, hairy, hairs 2 to 2^ lines long. 
Staminodes with very fine filaments, line long, and minute 
but distinct anthers. 
C. speciosa is found growing in masses on 
the banks of rivers and the edges of swamps 
from the foot of the Cordilleras down to the 
coast, and from 25 to 38^ of S. lat. Accord- 
ing to Meyen it forms with the Spanish Cane 
and the Common Reed, wide and impenetrable 
beds along the lower Copiapo River, " waving 
its glistening plumes like silver flags." This 
species would also well repay the trouble of 
introduction to our gardens. 
C. RUDiuscuL.A.. — Culms shorter and more slender than 
those of C. arge^itea. Leaf-blades up to 4 feet by upwards 
of \ inch wide. Panicles 12 to 18 inches long and 4 to 5 
inches wide, oblong, more or less nodding, often lobed, 
usually very dense, those of the male scarcely shining, 
of the female coarsely silky. Spikelets 3 to 5 flowered ; 
glumes 4 to 4^ lines long, up to A line broad, with minutely 
two-toothed tips ; valves tapermg from a relatively broad 
base to fine rigid poiats about 4 lines long, scantily hairy 
in the male, copiously hairy in the female, hairs stiff, 3 
to4lineslong. Staminodes very small, with thick filaments 
and indistinct rudimentary anthers. 
This seems to be the common species of 
the Argentine Sierras and the Cordilleras, 
from 35° S. lat. northwards. It has also 
been found on the western side of the Andes 
and ascends to considerable altitudes where it 
is much dwarfed. Like its congeners it prefers 
the neighbourhood of water. I know it only 
from dried specimens, but so far as we may 
judge from them it is the least ornamental of 
the species enumerated here, though on the 
other hand it ought to be the hardiest of all. 
C. QuiLA. — Culms very variable in height. Leaf-blades 
very long and up to \ inch wide. Panicle i to 2 feet long, 
the lower branches much longer than in any of the pre- 
ceding species, often more than a foot long, very slender. 
I usually flexuous and nodding, loosely branched, the whole 
panicle silvery or straw-coloured and with a tinge of mauve 
or purple, that of the male very lustrous, of the female silky. 
vSpikelets 3 to 5 flowered ; glumes and valves extremely 
delicate, glumes very narrow, 5 to 5^ lines long with the 
; nerve evanescent below the tips ; valves up to 6 lines long, 
narrowing to a long fine point, glabrous or very sparsely 
hairy in the male, copiously hairy in the female, hairs 2 
to 2^- lines long. Staminodes very fine, often with clavate 
tips or very minutely rudimentary anthers. 
Common in certain parts of the Andes from 
Bolivia to Ecuador, ascending to over 12,000 
feet. This was originally described as Gy-'/L'r/^/w 
j Quila by Esenbeck,who mistook it for Molino's 
! Arundo Quila, which is a Bamboo of the genus 
I Chusquea. Subsequently it was redescribed as 
j Gynerium jubatum by Lemoine. I transferred 
it in 1897 Cortaderia as C. Quila, but by 
an oversight it appeared in the following year 
as Cortaderia jubata in the Botanical Magazine. 
Cortaderia Quila is probably the most graceful 
of all the Cortaderas, but unfortunately it is 
also the least hardy. It was introduced to 
cultivation by Lemoine of Nancy in 1876, 
from seeds collected on Chimborazo by the 
Swiss traveller B. Roezl. 
Kew. OTTO STAFF. 
We add a few notes upon 
the behaviour of this rare and 
charming plant in the warmer 
parts of our country, for which, as well 
as for the original of our engraving on 
p. 173, we are indebted to Mr. W. E. 
Gumbleton, of Belgrove, Queenstown. 
He says : — 
I have grown this most beautiful and 
graceful of all its family for about 
twenty-iive years, since it was first in- 
troduced by Victor Lemoine of Nancy, 
who received seed of it from its dis- 
coverer — the collector Roezl — from 
Chimborazo. It has one great draw- 
back (preventing its introduction into 
general cultivation), which consists in 
its being unfortunately the least hardy 
member of its family, as it is unable to 
bear 
any 
severe frost without injury, if 
not death. When first I began to g: 
row 
