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GRASSES OF THE COLUMBIA BASIN OF BRITISH COLUMBIA Heather Stewart, Richard Hebda Major Groups of Grasses Table of Contents Glossary Vulpia Annual Fescue Vulpia includes the weedy annual species once included in Festuca (Aiken and Darbyshire, 1990). The differing habit, the tendency of Vulpia species to set seed by self-fertilizing and the reduced anther number (one to three, compared to three in Festuca), is regarded as enough to place Vulpia in their own genus. Vulpia Adapted from Hickman. 1993 1a. Spikelets with four to eleven closely overlapping flowers; spikelet axis hidden; lemma awn less than 7 mm................................................Vulpia octoflora 1b. Spikelets with two to six loosely overlapping flowers; spikelet axis visible; lemma awn 5-13 mm..............................................................Vulpia microstachys   Vulpia microstachys (Nutt.) Munro ex Benth var. pauciflora (Scribn.) Lonard and Gould Small Fescue Plant: Vulpia microstachys is a native species that grows to 5-40 cm tall. It is a weakly tufted annual with an open flowerhead and branches that appear swept to one side. Leaves and Stem: Sheaths are open and there are no auricles The hairlike leaf blades are more or less inrolled. The ligules are 0.2-0.5 mm long, and have a rough to fringed margin.. Flowerhead and Flowers: The branches of the somewhat-open flowerhead often sweep to one side. Some forms have spikelike flowerheads with more erect branches. Smooth, to slightly hairy, spikelets include two to six flowers. The glumes are unequal to nearly equal, and somewhat shorter than the spikelet. In our form (=Festuca pacifica) the narrow glumes are more or less hairless. Lemmas bear a 5-13-mm-long awn from the tip. Some of the flowers appear to never open, and contain undeveloped anthers. Habitat: Small Fescue occupies dry meadows, fields and disturbed sites such as roadsides. It has been collected from only one site at Castlegar, but likely occurs more widely. Similar species: Small Fescue belongs to a complex group of variable subgroups (see Hitchcock and Cronquist 1969, Part 1). Also know as =Festuca pacifica Piper and Festuca microstachys Nutt. Included in this group is Festuca reflexa Buckl. (Vulpia reflexa Rydb.). Vulpia octoflora (Walt.) Rydb. Six-weeks Fescue Plant: Vulpia octoflora is a native species that grows to 10-60 cm tall. It is an annual with a slender flowerhead with short branches that point upward. Leaves and Stem: The sheaths are open and there are no auricles. Hairlike ligules reach 0.2-0.7 mm long and are higher on the sides than in the centre. The leaf blades are fine and inrolled. Stems are ridged lengthwise at the uppermost node. Flowerhead and Flowers: The slender flowerhead is 2-20 cm long and consists of short upward-pointing branches. There are 4-11 closely placed flowers per spikelet. The unequal glumes are long and narrow and much shorter than the spikelet. Lemmas have a straight 1-7-mm-long awn. Habitat: Six-weeks Fescue is regarded as a weedy species in Hitchcock (1969). It grows on moderate to dry slopes, open forests and roadsides in the steppe and montane zones. In the Columbia Basin region it occurs at Nelson, Creston, Kootenay, Tobacco Plains, Grand Forks and Waldo (which is now under Lake Koocanusa). Similar species: Six-weeks Fescue is part of a complex of plants that were once included in the Festuca genus as Festuca octoflora. There are three varieties of Six-weeks Fescue) in B.C.: var. glauca, var. octoflora and var. hirtella. Variety octoflora and var. hirtella have larger spikelets (5.6-10 mm long) and longer awns (2.5-9 mm long). Variety glauca has spikelets that are only 4-5.5 mm long, and 0.3-3-mm-long awns.

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