Vulpia C.C.Gmel.
Type species: V. myuros (L.) C.C.Gmel.
Short-lived annuals, rarely perennials; branching intravaginal. Leaf-sheath rounded. Ligule membranous. Leaf-blade flat, convolute when dry. Culm erect or decumbent, branching mainly at base. Inflorescence a narrow, usually secund panicle, usually sparsely branched, or sometimes a spiciform or compound raceme. Spikelets laterally compressed, (1)-3-12-flowered, ⚥, the upper 1-2-(3) florets ♂ or Ø; disarticulation above and sometimes below glumes, and below each ⚥ floret. Glumes usually very unequal; lower sometimes minute, 1-nerved, or nerves 0, upper 1-3-nerved, acute to acuminate. Lemma (3)-5-nerved, rounded or occasionally keeled, subcoriaceous, acuminate, mucronate or tapering to a long straight awn. Palea ≈ lemma, 2-keeled, apex bifid. Callus rounded or pointed, glabrous or pubescent. Lodicules 2, membranous, bilobed or bidentate, narrow or sometimes ovate. Stamens 1-(3), often small. Ovary apex glabrous or pubescent; styles free. Caryopsis linear to narrowly ellipsoid, dorsiventrally compressed, longitudinally grooved; embryo small; hilum linear, at least ¾ length of caryopsis.
Key
22 spp. of temperate and subtropical regions of Northern Hemisphere and South America. Naturalised spp. 2.
The genus Vulpia is very variable and the morphological and anatomical variation within it was reviewed by Cotton, R. and Stace, C. A. Bot. Not. 130: 173-187 (1977). The two spp. present in N.Z. belong to sect. Vulpia which is characterised by annual plants, with inflorescence a panicle or rarely subracemose, with most florets ⚥ or with a group of Ø but not smaller florets at the apex, and with disarticulation below each ⚥ floret. The florets are usually cleistogamous with 1 small anther, 0.3-0.8 mm, but there may be up to 3 anthers to 1.8 mm, and the larger anthers may be slightly exserted at anthesis. The variation in flowering behaviour in Vulpia is discussed by Auquier, P. and Stace, C. A. Pl. Syst. Evol. 136: 47-52 (1980).
Stace, C. A., in Davis, P. H. (Ed.) Fl. Turkey 9: 451 (1985), noted that "Glume-ratio is an important character in this genus, but care must be taken to avoid spikelets which are terminal on the inflorescence or on its branches...; on such terminal spikelets the lower glume is often relatively long."
