This section is from "The Horticulturist, And Journal Of Rural Art And Rural Taste", by P. Barry, A. J. Downing, J. Jay Smith, Peter B. Mead, F. W. Woodward, Henry T. Williams. Also available from Amazon: Horticulturist and Journal of Rural Art and Rural Taste.
One of the most interesting plants at present in flower here is the Pampas Gross of Brazil, (Gynerium argenteum) a good specimen of which is growing in the American garden, near its entrance. This plant has 12 flower stems, each some 8 feet long, about the thickness of the thumb, and surmounted by an erect panicle of inflorescence at least 18 inches in length, which beneath bright sunshine looks like a beautiful light-colored feather spangled with silver; the panicle is in the form of that of the beautiful Arundo phragmites. The leaves, which are some 7 or 8 feet long, with a hard flinty skin, grow in tussocks, which, in situations at all favorable, soon acquire a large size; when in flower, certainly few plants are more striking or magnificent in appearance than this gigantic Grass, which being perfectly hardy, will be found to be a great acquisition to the ornamental grounds of this country. - London Gardener' Chronicle.
 
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