Cortaderia nitida (Kunth) Pilg., Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 37: 374. 1906.

Testoni, Daniel & Linder, H. Peter, 2017, Synoptic taxonomy of Cortaderia Stapf (Danthonioideae, Poaceae), PhytoKeys 76, pp. 39-69 : 55-56

8. Cortaderia nitida (Kunth) Pilg., Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 37: 374. 1906. Figs 1H , 3D

Arundo nitida Kunth in Humb. et Bonpl., Nov. Gen. Sp. [H.B.K.] 1: 149. 1816; Gynerium nitidum (Kunth) Pilg., Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 27: 31. 1899. Type: Colombia, inter Guachucal et Tuqueres, sine data, A. J. A. Bonpland s.n. (lectotype, designated as holotype by Connor & Edgar, Taxon 23: 600 (1974): B; isolectotypes: BM, K!).

Cortaderia sodiroana Hack., Oesterr. Bot. Z. 52: 238. 1902. Type: Ecuador, in reg. silvat. suband., 1872, L. Sodiro s.n. (lectotype, designated by Connor & Edgar, Taxon 23: 600 (1974): W 25246!; isolectotype: US!). A second Sodiro collection, same date and place, on the same sheet as the lectotype [W 25245], does not belong to Cortaderia nitida , and does not fit Haeckel’s description.

Etymology.

niteo (Latin) = shine. It may refer to the persistently intact, more or less white, leaf sheaths.

Common names.

"Sigse de Páramo”.

Taxonomy.

Cortaderia nitida is a distinctive grass. It is the tallest and most robust species of this group. The lamina margins are inrolled. The basal sheaths gradually become shorter with age, but do not become lacerated, the leaf blades are scabrid in the upper half but not the lower, and the inflorescence branches which are scaberulous while the pulvini often have a few long hairs (the latter seems to be unique in the genus). The callus usually has very long spreading hairs (more than 2 mm, almost equivalent to the lemma hairs), and the setae are less than 2 mm long. The other tall Cortaderia , Cortaderia bifida , has central awns that are longer than 8 mm, and very well developed setae. The lemma shape is similar to Cortaderia columbiana , but the inflorescence branches are scaberulous in Cortaderia nitida , and villous in Cortaderia columbiana .

This species also approaches the Selloana group by it large size, big plumose inflorescences, and especially by the lemma shape. It is easy to confuse the lemmas of the two groups, but in Nitida group the lemmas are 5-7 veined, hairy in both sexes, while in Selloana group the lemmas are 3-veined, hairy in female plants and glabrous in hermaphrodite plants. The plastid sequence data also places this species as sister to the Selloana group, but this is not corroborated by the ITS-based phylogeny.

Laegaard (1997) mentions a distinct form of smaller and more delicate plants from the province of Azuay in Ecuador, and with three-nerved glumes, but we have not seen any material of it.

The leaf anatomy (Fig. 3D ) is similar to that of Cortaderia boliviensis , and approaches that of Cortaderia sericantha . A well-developed layer of collenchyma is found below the abaxial epidermis, and overall there is little evidence of lignification. It differs from Cortaderia sericantha by the well-developed adaxial grooves and the not quite so massive collenchyma, and by the presence of adaxial papillae.

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 3. Leaf anatomy of Cortaderia, as evident from transverse sections. A Cortaderia egmontiana (Moore 2677) B Cortaderia modesta (Glaziou 17913) C Cortaderia hieronymi (Garcia 563) D Cortaderia nitida (Laegaard 53121) E Cortaderia boliviensis (Beck 11273); F Cortaderia sericantha (Ramsay 967); G Cortaderia echinata (Peterson 21587) H Cortaderia bifida (Renvoize 4202) I Cortaderia hapalotricha (Laegaard 53305) J Cortaderia roraimensis (Maguire 60448). Structures referred to in the descriptions are labelled as follows: 1, multi-layered abaxial sub-epidermal collenchyma layer; 2, adaxial islands of collenchyma in the abaxial grooves; 3, chlorenchyma; 4, primary vascular bundle; 5, midrib.