Cortaderia speciosa (Nees & Meyen) Stapf, Gard. Chron. Ser. 3(22): 396. 1897.

Testoni, Daniel & Linder, H. Peter, 2017, Synoptic taxonomy of Cortaderia Stapf (Danthonioideae, Poaceae), PhytoKeys 76, pp. 39-69 : 48-49

3. Cortaderia speciosa (Nees & Meyen) Stapf, Gard. Chron. Ser. 3(22): 396. 1897. Fig. 1C

Gynerium speciosum Nees & Meyen, Nov. Act. Nat. Cur. 19 suppl. 1: 153. 1843; Gynerium argenteum var. strictum E. Desv., Fl. Chile. 6: 328. 1854; Moorea speciosa (Nees & Meyen) Stapf, Gard. Chron. Ser. 3, 34: 400. 1903. Type: Chile, ad flumen Copiapo dictum circa Nantoco in provincia Copiapó reipublicae Chilensis, III-1831, F. J. F. Meyen s.n. (lectotype designated by Connor & Edgar, Taxon 23: 603 (1974): B 10 0217503! (http://ww2.bgbm.org/Herbarium/specimen.cfm?Barcode=B100217503); isolectotype: K! frag. ex B).

Gynerium quila Nees & Meyen, Nov. Act. Nat. Cur.19 suppl. 1: 153. 1843; Cortaderia quila (Nees & Meyen) Stapf, Gard. Chron. Ser. 3: 22: 396. 1897; Moorea quila (Nees & Meyen) Stapf, Gard. Chron. Ser 3, 34: 400. 1903. Type: Chile, ad Copiapó fluvium circa Nantoco, sine data, F. J. F. Meyen s.n. (syntype: B!); Perú, ad lacum Titicacam et ad pedem vulcani Arequipensis. Femina planta. Mascula ignota est., 1000 m, Maio, F. J. F. Meyen s.n. (syntype: B 10 0217504 (http://ww2.bgbm.org/Herbarium/specimen.cfm?Barcode=B100217504; isosyntype: BAA! frag. ex B).

Gynerium quila var. pygmaeum Meyen, Nov. Act. Nat. Cur. 19 Suppl. 1: 153. 1843. Type: Perú, "ad lacum Titicacam. ♀", IV-1841, F. J. F. Meyen s.n. (lectotype, designated here: B 10 0217506! (http://ww2.bgbm.org/Herbarium/specimen.cfm?Barcode=B100217506).

Gynerium argenteum var. parviflorum E. Desv., Fl. Chile. 6: 328. 1854. Type: Chile, Mal Paso, cordillera de Guanta, a la orilla de los arroyos, 2490 m., en donde forma copas apretadas de un metro y más, sine data, C. Gay s.n. (lectotype, designated here: P 00506920!).

Gynerium atacamense Phil., Linnaea 33: 289.1865. Cortaderia atacamensis (Phil.) Pilg., Bot. Jahrb. 37: 374. 1906. Type: Chile, prope San Pedro de Atacama, I-1854, R. A. Philippi s.n. (lectotype, designated as holotype by Connor & Edgar, Taxon 23: 597 (1974): SGO photo!; isolectotype: BAA! frag. ex SGO, W!).

Cortaderia rudiuscula Stapf, Gard. Chron. Ser. 3, 22: 396. 1897. Moorea rudiuscula (Stapf) Stapf, Gard. Chron. Ser. 3, 34: 400. 1903. Type: Chile, Santa Rosa de los Andes, V-1882, J. Ball s.n. (lectotype, designated by Connor & Edgar, Taxon 23: 601 (1974): K!; isolectotype: BAA! frag. ex K).

Etymology.

speciosus (Latin), beautiful, showy.

Nomenclatural comments.

The binomials Gynerium speciosum , Gynerium neesii and Gynerium pygmaeum - mentioned as new species by Meyen (1834), from Copiapo (Chile) and Lake Titicaca (Peru), respectively - are synonyms of Cortaderia speciosa , but are invalid (nomina nuda) as no descriptions were published. Their identity can be determined, because the specimens in B! were annotated with the Meyen names. Gynerium speciosum was validated by Nees in 1943. Tropicos (Downloaded 14 December 2016) lists the species as described by Nees in 1841 ( Nees ab Esenbeck 1841), but this is erroneous. Conert (1961) designated Philippi 1024 (B photo!) from Chile ("Atacama oppidum, 1824") as lectotype of Gynerium atacamense Phil. However, the type has been found in the herbarium SGO (Connor, 1983) and, therefore, the lectotype designated by Conert should not be taken into account. The binomial Arundo quila Molina is a synonym of Chusquea quila Kunth ( Bambusoideae ). In some works, it has been confused Gynerium quila Nees & Meyen (basionym of Cortaderia quila Nees & Meyen) Stapf, therefore, the binomials Gynerium quila (Molina) Nees & Meyen and Cortaderia quila (Molina) Stapf are invalid.

Common names.

cortadera

Taxonomy.

In the Selloana group, Cortaderia speciosa can be diagnosed by the short basal lemmas, which are less than 13 mm long. The spikelets are 8-15 mm long and the basal lemma 7.0-12.5 mm long (including awn, 1-4 mm). It differs from other species in the group by its very compact, bright brown panicles with ascending, short and stiff branches. The species is readily distinguished by the small floret sizes. The leaf anatomy is also somewhat different from the other species of the group (Fig. 2C ): the midrib is rounded and somewhat lower; the outer sheath of the central vascular bundle without projections to the adaxial epidermis; and with a massive abaxial sub-epidermal collenchyma layer, only in the middle part of the leaf. The latter occurs in the Nitida group but along the leaf. It is known only by pistillate plants from desert regions (the Puna) of Argentina, Bolivia and Chile.

This species is completely apomictic, and several morphological subgroups can be recognized. As these are all apomicts, it is presumed that they derive from the same ancestral sexual population. The material previously separated as Cortaderia rudiuscula has longer (9-12 mm) and more slender lemmas, than the material previously separated as Cortaderia speciosa (lemmas ca. 8 mm), but there is no clear separation between these two forms.

Figures

Figure 1. Lemmas of selected species of Cortaderia. A Cortaderia selloana, Juergens 40 (B) B Cortaderia araucana, Borchers s. n. (US) C Cortaderia speciosa, P. M. Peterson 12766 (US) D Cortaderia vaginata, L. B. Smith, P. R. Reitz & R. Klein 7761 (B) E Cortaderia egmontiana, P. M. Peterson, R. J. Soreng & N. Refulio-Rodriguez 17508 (US) F Cortaderia modesta, A. Chase 8288 (US) G Cortaderia hieronymi, A. Burkart et al. 30395 (P) - note that awn and setae are much longer than illustrated H Cortaderia nitida, S. Laegaard 52786 (K) I Cortaderia sericantha, E. Asplund 17175 (B) J Cortaderia bifida, D. N. Smith & J. Cabanillas 7167 (US) K Cortaderia hapalotricha, J. C. Solomon & R. Chevalier 16620 L Cortaderia columbiana, J. P. Schulz 318 (US). All at same magnification.

Figure 2. Leaf anatomy of Cortaderia, as evident from transverse sections. A-B Cortaderia selloana (Villamil 11738) C Cortaderia speciosa (Testoni 644) D Cortaderia vaginata (Zanin 1654). Comparison of bulliform cells in Egmontiana group: E Cortaderia egmontiana (Testoni 634) F Cortaderia modesta (Carauta 927) G Cortaderia vaginata (Zanin 1654). Structures referred to in the descriptions are labelled as follows: 1, multi-layered abaxial sub-epidermal collenchyma layer; 2, aerenchyma; 3, chlorenchyma; 4, primary vascular bundle; 5, midrib; 6, colourless cells; 7, empty cells; 8, bulliform cells.