Cortaderia jubata (Lemoine ex Carriere) Stapf, Poaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Risk assessment results: 

Reject, score: 22 (Go to the risk assessment (Australia))
High risk, score: 26 (Go to the risk assessment (Pacific))

Common name(s): [more details]

English: Andean pampas grass, jubata grass, pink pampas grass, purple pampas grass

Spanish: sacuara

Habit:  grass

Description:  "Robust, tussock grass up to 3 m in diameter, flowering stalks up to 3 m high.  Leaves:  Bright green, up to 1500 mm long x 12 mm wide, reflexed, tips not bristle-like, blade flat to only slightly v-shaped in cross-section, margins rough, cutting; leaves mostly basal to half the height of the flowing stalks.  Inflorescence:  Yellowish or purple, loosely branching, feathery, 600-800 mm long.  Fruits:  Seeds, falling from old inflorescence which remains a dark or yellowish color" (Henderson, 1995; p. 11).

Description from GrassBase.

Habitat/ecology:  Disturbed areas, clearings, sand dunes, roadsides, grasslands, pastures, alpine shrublands. Invades disturbed areas, smothering other plants and preventing regeneration. Buildup of dry material can significantly increase fire hazard.  "Tolerates heat and frost, salt, wind, wet and drought, moderate shade, most soils, and low fertility. Recovers quickly after fire"  (Weedbusters New Zealand).

Propagation:  "Seeds are spread long distances by wind and occasionally water. Also spreads by soil movement, dumped vegetation, contaminated forestry machinery, clothing, animal pelts. Common seed sources are plantation forests, roadsides, farm hedges, quarries and wasteland"  (Weedbusters New Zealand).

Native range:  South America

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Maui Island	introduced invasive	Meidell, J. Scott/Oppenheimer, H. L./Bartlett, R. T. (1998) (p. 8) West Maui. Voucher cited: Meidell & Oppenheimer 236 (BISH)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Maui Island	introduced invasive	Loope, L./Medeiros, A. C. (1992) (pp. 7-8) East Maui

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Australia Australia (continental)	Australia (continental)	introduced invasive cultivated	Csurhes, S./Edwards, R. (1998) (p. 152)
Ecuador (Mainland) Ecuador	Ecuador (Republic of) (continental)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
New Zealand New Zealand	New Zealand (country)	introduced invasive	Owen, S. J. (1997)
New Zealand New Zealand	New Zealand (country)	introduced invasive cultivated	Edgar, E./Connor, H. (2000) (p. 495) "Waste places, lowlands, plantation forests and scrub to 800 m".
Perú Perú	Perú (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)

Comments:  A problem species in New Zealand (declared noxious weed). On Hawai‘i noxious weed list.

See also C. selloana.

Control:  Control information from the Bugwood Wiki. See also Gosling et al., 2000. and Popay et al., 2003.

Physical:  "Dig or grub out seedlings or small plants. Chainsaw small plants and remove sizeable plants by bulldozer. Compost or Leave on site to rot down. the foliage. Burn or bury any flowerheads.

Chemical:  1. Weed wipe (all year round): glyphosate (200ml/L + penetrant). 2. Spray: Gallant (150ml/10l + crop oil) for most sites or glyphosate (100ml/10L + penetrant) for very dense sites. Use a marker dye to avoid wastage and a foaming agent to help prevent spray drift. Leave the plants in the ground until the roots have died off. Wait until the plant actively begins growing again before respraying."  (Weedbusters New Zealand).

Additional information:
Excerpt from the book "Weeds of Hawaii‘s Pastures and Natural Areas; An Identification and Management Guide" (Motooka et al., 2003). (PDF format).
Report (PDF format) from US Geological Survey, Biological Resources Division, Haleakala Field Station, Hawaii "Plants of Hawaii".
Information on the Environment Bay of Plenty, New Zealand, web site.
HEAR Harmful Non-Indigenous Species report (HNIS report) and 1-pagecolor-illustrated info sheet (both in PDF format) from HEAR.
Information from the Bugwood Wiki.
Information from the Global Invasive Species Database.
Information sheet from Weedbusters New Zealand.

Additional online information about Cortaderia jubata is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Information about Cortaderia jubata as a weed (worldwide references) may be available from the Global Compendium of Weeds (GCW).

Taxonomic information about Cortaderia jubata may be available from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).

References:

Csurhes, S./Edwards, R. 1998. Potential environmental weeds in Australia: Candidate species for preventative control. Canberra, Australia. Biodiversity Group, Environment Australia. 208 pp.

Edgar, E./Connor, H. 2000. Flora of New Zealand, vol. V: Gramineae. Manaaki Whenua Press. .

Gosling, D. S./Shaw, W. B./Beadel, S. M. 2000. Review of control methods for pampas grasses in New Zealand. Department of Conservation, New Zealand. Science for Conservation 165.

Henderson, Lesley. 1995. Plant invaders of Southern Africa. Plant Protection Research Institute Handbook No. 5, Agriculture Research Council, ARC/LNR, Pretoria, South Africa. 177 pp.

Loope, L./Medeiros, A. C. 1992. A new and invasive pampas grass on Maui. Hawaiian Bot. Soc. Newsl. 31:7-8.

Meidell, J. Scott/Oppenheimer, H. L./Bartlett, R. T. 1998. New plant records from West Maui. In: Evenhuis, Neal L. and Miller, Scott, E., eds. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 1997. Part 2: Notes. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers. 56:6-8.

Motooka, Philip/Castro, Luisa/Nelson, Duane/Nagai, Guy/Ching, Lincoln. 2003. Weeds of Hawaii‘s Pastures and Natural Areas; An Identification and Management Guide. College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, University of Hawaii at Manoa. 184 pp.

Motooka, Philip/Ching, Lincoln/Nagai, Guy. 2002. Herbicidal Weed Control Methods for Pasture and Natural Areas of Hawaii. Cooperative Extension Service, College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, University of Hawai‘i. CTAHR free publication WC-8.

Owen, S. J. 1997. Ecological weeds on conservation land in New Zealand: A database. Working draft. Wellington, New Zealand. Department of Conservation.

Popay, I./Timmins, S. M./McCluggage, T. 2003. Aerial spraying of pampas grass in difficult conservation sites. Department of Conservation, New Zealand. Science for Conservation 218.

Timmins, S. M./Mackenzie, I. W. 1995. Weeds in New Zealand protected natural areas database. Wellington, New Zealand. Department of Conservation, , Technical Series No. 8. 287 pp.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2011. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.

Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. 1999. Manual of the flowering plants of Hawaii. Revised edition. Bernice P. Bishop Museum special publication. University of Hawai‘i Press/Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu. 1919 pp. (two volumes).