Page authors: Don Knoke, David Giblin
Vulpia myuros
rattail fescue, rattail six-weeks grass
Specimens
Photos

Distribution: Occurring on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; Alaska to California, east across most of North America to the Atlantic Coast.

Habitat: Balds, open slopes, grasslands, roadsides, wastelots, and other disturbed open areas

Flowers: April-June

Origin: Introduced from Europe

Growth Duration: Annual

Conservation Status: Not of concern

Pollination: Wind

Description:
General:

Simple or tufted annual 3-4 dm. tall, the culms glabrous and hollow, mostly concealed by the numerous leaves.

Leaves:

Sheaths open, glabrous; leaf blades about 1 mm. broad, usually folded, glabrous beneath and puberulent above; auricles lacking; ligules membranous, erose, 0.2-0.6 mm. long.

Flowers:

Inflorescence a very narrow, elongate panicle 10-20 cm. long; spikelets 4- to 6-flowered, articulating above the glumes; glumes very narrowly lanceolate, unequal, the first about 1.5 mm. long, 1-nerved, the second 3-5 mm. long, 3-nerved; lemmas glabrous, about 5.5 mm. long, with a terminal awn 10-15 mm. long; stamens usually 1.

Fruits:

Utricle

Accepted Name:
Vulpia myuros (L.) C.C. Gmel.
Publication: Fl. Bad. 1: 8. 1805.

Synonyms & Misapplications:
Festuca megalura Nutt. [HC]
Festuca megalura Nutt. var. hirsuta (Hack.) Aschers. & Graebn.
Festuca myuros L. [HC]
Vulpia megalura (Nutt.) Rydb.
Vulpia myuros (L.) C.C. Gmel. var. hirsuta Hack.
Additional Resources:

PNW Herbaria: Specimen records of Vulpia myuros in the Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria database

WA Flora Checklist: Vulpia myuros checklist entry

OregonFlora: Vulpia myuros information

E-Flora BC: Vulpia myuros atlas page

CalPhotos: Vulpia myuros photos

21 photographs:
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