Click on images to enlarge
habit (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
seed-heads with their bases partially enclosed in the uppermost leaf sheaths (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
close-up of flower spikelets with slender awns (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
close-up of seeds (Photo: Steve Hurst at USDA PLANTS Database)
Scientific Name
Vulpia myuros (L.) C.C. Gmel.
Two forms of this species are present in Australia:
Vulpia myuros (L.) C.C. Gmel. forma megalura (Nutt.) Stace & CottonVulpia myuros (L.) C.C. Gmel. forma myuros
Synonyms
For Vulpia myuros:
Festuca myuros L.
For Vulpia myuros forma megalura:
Festuca megalura Nutt.Vulpia megalura (Nutt.) Rydb.Vulpia myuros (L.) C.C. Gmel. var. megalura (Nutt.) P. Auquier
For Vulpia myuros forma myuros:
Vulpia myuros (L.) C.C. Gmel. var. myuros
Family
Gramineae (South Australia)Poaceae (Queensland, New South Wales, the ACT, Victoria, Tasmania, Western Australia and the Northern Territory)
Common Names
For Vulpia myuros:
annual fescue, fall panic grass, silver grass, silvergrass, six weeks grass, vulpia
For Vulpia myuros forma megalura:
fox-tail fescue, foxtail fescue
For Vulpia myuros forma myuros:
rat tail fescue, rat tailed fescue, rat's tail fescue, rat's-tail fescue, rat-tail fescue, rattail fescue, rat-tail six-weeks grass, rat-tailed fescue
Origin
Native to northern Africa, the Azores, the Madeira Islands, the Canary Islands, large parts of Europe, the middle-east, western Asia and the Indian Sub-continent.
Naturalised Distribution
Vulpia myuros var. megalura is widely naturalised in southern and eastern Australia (i.e. in south-eastern Queensland, New South Wales, the ACT, Victoria, Tasmania, many parts of South Australia and the southern and western parts of Western Australia). It is also naturalised on Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island.
Vulpia myuros var. myuros is even more widely naturalised in southern and eastern Australia (i.e. in south-eastern and central Queensland, New South Wales, the ACT, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and the southern and western parts of Western Australia). It is also naturalised in the southern parts of the Northern Territory.
Forms of this species are also naturalised in southern Africa, New Zealand, North America (i.e. Canada, the USA and Mexico), southern South America and Hawaii.
Notes
Silver grass (Vulpia myuros) is regarded as an environmental weed in Victoria and Western Australia.
Copyright © 2016. All rights reserved. Identic Pty Ltd.
|
The mobile application of Environmental Weeds of Australia is available from the Google Play Store and Apple iTunes. |
|
