10/12/2009: Cortaderia colonisation

From a moving train window on 10/12/09, I managed to get this blurred picture of the Pampas Grass (Cortaderia - most probably selloana) growing by the railway, just east of Kidbrooke station, on the north side of the line.

'Wild' Pampas Grass near Kidbrooke railway station

There was - until recently - another flowering-sized specimen at the top of the incline from the defunct tracks to the Bricklayer's arms goods complex, just west of the point at which the London Bridge lines cross the East London Line. This appears to have died or been destroyed.

On 28/11/09 when travelling from Euston to Bolton, I spotted a flowering Pampas Grass on railway land under the Scrubs Lane overbridge, just east of Willesden station (and a second inside the railway fence just north of Levenshulme in Greater Manchester).

Elsewhere in London, I have also seen this grass between the railway lines at the west end of Acton Main Line station, Ealing (two plants, from memory) and another on 'waste' ground in the West Ham area.

I also recorded a couple of seedlings on a former garage site on Gloucester Rd., Bristol, the identification being supported by the opinion of a profesional botanist who lived nearby.