Cortaderia selloana subsp. selloana
Plants female or bisexual. Culms to 4 m high, normally less than twice the height of basal leaves; leaves dull bluish- or grey-green; sheath usually glabrous; blade turned from shortly above the sheath (so that the scabrous lower surface is uppermost), flat, coarsely scabrous on margins and nerves on lower surface, midrib prominently thickened. Inflorescence white, yellowish or purplish. Spikelets with veins of glume and rachilla segments unpigmented, 5–7-flowered. Flowers Mar.–May.
MuM, Wim, GleP, VVP, VRiv, GipP, OtP, WaP, Gold, CVU, GGr, DunT, NIS, EGL, HSF, HNF, OtR, Strz. Also naturalised in WA, SA, NSW, Tas., New Zealand, southern Africa. Native to South America. Mostly spreading along seasonal drainage lines and roadside ditches from garden escapes or refuse (e.g. Whipstick Forest near Bendigo, Bellarine Peninsula, Greater Melbourne). Plants grown in Victoria for ornament are mostly female only and not able to produce viable seed. However, a strain of the species with normal hermaphrodite flowers has become established, particularly in the Bendigo district, and these have given rise to numerous plants forming extensive swards that are difficult to eradicate.
Walsh, N.G. (1994). Poaceae. In: Walsh, N.G.; Entwisle, T.J., Flora of Victoria Vol. 2, Ferns and Allied Plants, Conifers and Monocotyledons, pp. 356–627. Inkata Press, Melbourne.