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Products > Calamagrostis effusiflora
 
Calamagrostis effusiflora - Lushan Feather Reed Grass
   

 
Habit and Cultural Information
Category: Grass
Family: Poaceae (Gramineae) (Grasses)
Origin: Garden Origin
Evergreen: Yes
Flower Color: Yellow Green
Bloomtime: Summer/Fall
Synonyms: [C. brachytricha 'Lushan', Deyeuxia effusiflora]
Height: 3-4 feet
Width: 3-4 feet
Exposure: Sun or Shade
Irrigation (H2O Info): Medium Water Needs
Winter Hardiness: < 0 °F
Calamagrostis effusiflora (Lushan Feather Reed Grass) - An attractive evergreen ornamental grass that grows as a clump to 3 to 4 feet tall with 3/8 inch wide green ribbon like foliage that can have a slight reddish tint. In late summer the flowers rise above the foliage in open airy panicles, starting a greenish yellow color with a tint of lilac and age to a light gold color fall into winter. Plant in full sun to light shade and give occasional to regular irrigation. A very hardy grass that can survive temperatures down to -4° F. Can be cut back in late winter to promote clean fresh foliage. Though not well tested in our mediterranean climate, this grass should prove to be a useful and showy grass as a specimen or in a mass planting for occasionally irrigated open understory areas or more regularly irrigated sunny meadow plantings. Though the leaves are slightly broader, the taller and more airy inflorescences give this plant a much more delicate appearance than the more common Korean Feather Reed Grass, Calamagrostis brachytricha (AKA Diamond Grass), plus it is evergreen (at least in coastal California gardens). Orignially thought to be endemic to China. In the Flora of China under the listing (Deyeuxia effusiflora) it is noted to grow in wet places, especially river banks from 2,000 to 9,500 feet in Gansu, Guizhou, Henan, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, and Zhejiang but more recently the range has been determined to include areas in the East Himalaya into Bhutan and India. It was first described as Deyeuxia effusiflora in 1904 in the Journal of the Linnean Society, Botany 36 by the British botanist Alfred Barton Rendle, Keeper of Botany at the Natural History Museum in London but more recent molecular studies have shifted all of the Asian species of Deyeuxia into the genus Calamagrostis. We received seed of this plant from the "grassman" John Greenlee who had received from German horticulturalist Cassian Schmidt, the Director of Hermannshof Garden in Weinheim, Germany. Schmidt introduced this plant as Calamagrostis brachytricha 'Lushan' in 2010 and had originally collected seed of it from Mount Lushan, China at an elevation of about 3,600 feet. 

Information displayed on this page about Calamagrostis effusiflora is based on our research conducted about this plant in our nursery library as well as from information provided by reliable online resources. We also include our own observations made about it as it has grown in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant performed in the containers in our nursery field. We will also include comments received from others and welcome hearing from anyone who has information about this plant, particularly if it includes cultural information aiding others to better grow it.

 
San Marcos Growers closed for regular business at the end of 2025 as the property is being developed for affordable housing.
While our gates remain closed, we will open them by appointment so we can liquidate remaining plants, supplies and equipment. The plants remaining in the field are listed on our Live Inventory Page.
 
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