Cortaderia jubata

Purple pampas grass, jubata grass, Jubata Grass

Family: Poaceae · Type: perennial · Not Native

Conservation status: Cal-IPC Yes

Purple pampas grass is a naturalized perennial found in northern coastal California, central coastal California, San Francisco Bay Area, southern coastal California, and western Transverse Ranges in disturbed sites and diverse habitats near the coast at elevations below 800 meters. Flowering from September to February, this invasive grass produces violet to dull brown flower plumes up to one meter long in large, dramatic clusters. Growing impressively tall with stems 2 to 7 meters high, it forms dense, robust clumps with long, arching leaves. Its leaves are 2 to 12 millimeters wide, green on both surfaces, with a distinctive row of short hairs at the base of the leaf blade. This aggressive species reproduces asexually, spreading rapidly in coastal and disturbed environments.

Habitat: Disturbed sites, many habitats, especially coastal

Bloom period: Sep-Feb

Elevation: < 800 m

Bioregions: NCo, NCoRO, CCo, SnFrB, SCo, WTR

California counties: Contra Costa, San Luis Obispo, Santa Cruz, San Diego, Humboldt, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside, Marin, Mendocino, San Mateo, Ventura, Monterey, Del Norte, Alameda, Sonoma, Santa Barbara

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.