PlantNET Home DONATE TODAY | PlantNET Home | Search NSW Flora | Contact Us  
FloraOnline
Introduction
Plant Name Search
Index Search
Spatial Search
Identification Keys
Classification
Glossary
WeedAlert
Telopea Journal
Other Data Sources
NEW SOUTH WALES FLORA ONLINE Printable Page

Genus Vulpia Family Poaceae

Description: Slender, erect, tufted annuals; culms tufted or solitary, usually smooth.

Leaves with sheath smooth, rounded; ligule membranous, to 1 mm long; blade rolled in bud, convolute or involute, lax to stiff, margins rough.

Inflorescence paniculate, 1-sided, narrow, erect to nodding, pedicels thickened. Spikelets oblong to wedge-shaped, solitary, pedicellate, disarticulating above the glumes and between the lemmas; florets 5–10, bisexual. Glumes unequal; lower glume minute to c. 60% the length of the upper lemma, 1-nerved; upper glume subequal to adjacent lemma, subulate, 3-nerved. Lemmas 5–10, subulate to lanceolate, tapering to an awn, rounded on the back, becoming rigid, faintly 5-nerved; awn straight, long, scabrous; callus short. Palea narrow, 2-keeled.


Distribution and occurrence: A genus of c. 20 species from temperate areas of the N. hemisphere. Australia 5 species naturalised, all States except Northern Territory. Most species are regarded here as undesirable components of run-down pasture.

Text by Jacobs, S.W.L., Whalley, R.D.B. & Wheeler, D.J.B.
Taxon concept: Grasses of New South Wales, Fourth Edition (2008).

 Key to the species 
1Lemma usually more than 7 mm long; callus of lower lemma 0.5 mm or longerVulpia fasciculata
Lemma usually ± 7 mm long; callus of lower lemma less than 0.5 mm long2
2Inflorescence well-exserted from the leaf sheath at maturity; lower glume 25–75% the length of the upper3
Inflorescence partly enclosed by a leaf sheath at maturity; lower glume less than 40% the length of the upper
                       Back to 1
4
3Lower glume 50–75% the length of upper; lemma 1.3–1.9 mm wideVulpia bromoides
Lower glume 25–50% the length of the upper; lemma 0.8–1.3 mm wide
                       Back to 2
Vulpia muralis
4Spikelets with 3–6 female florets; lemma of female florets 5-nervedVulpia myuros
Spikelets with 1 or 2 female florets; lemma of female florets 3-nerved
                       Back to 2
Vulpia ciliata

  Privacy | Copyright | Disclaimer | About PlantNET | Cite PlantNET