Abstract
The embryogeny of the dioecious, nonweedy pampas grass Cortaderia selloana (Schult.) Asch. and Graeb. and that of the weedy C. jubata (Lem.) Stapf are compared, using an extrusion method. The normal eight-nucleate Polygonum-type embryo sac development in C. selloana contrasts with the four-nucleate aposporically developed embryo sac of C. jubata. In C. selloana, fertilization of the egg cell is necessary for embryo production; in C. jubata this takes place by diploid parthenogenesis. The advantages of agamospermy to weedy C. jubata are the reproduction of the same genotype in every generation, the economy of energy and material due to the lack of an androecium and its products, and the development of all the ovules into seeds.
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