The Pampas (from Quechua, meaning "plain") are the fertile South American lowlands that include the Argentine provinces of Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Santa Fe, and Córdoba, most of Uruguay, and southernmost Brazil, covering more than 750,000 km² (290,000 square miles).
The climate is mild, with precipitation of 600 to 1,200 mm, more or less evenly distributed through the year, making the soils appropriate for agriculture.
Frequent fires ensure that only small plants such as grasses flourish. Trees are almost entirely lacking, except along main watercourses. The dominant vegetation types are grassy prairie and grass steppe in which numerous species of the grass genus Stipa are conspicuous. "Pampas Grass" (Cortaderia selloana) is an iconic species. Different strata of grasses occur due to gradients of water availability.