Vulpia bromoides (L.) S.F.Gray, Poaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Other Latin names:  Festuca bromoides L.

Common name(s): [more details]

English: barren fescue, brome fescue, desert fescue, squirreltail fescue

French: vulpie faux brome

Spanish: pasto de sedilla

Habit:  grass

Description:  "Glabrous annuals; culms loosely tufted, base decumbent, 1-3 (-5.5) dm tall, lower nodes geniculate.  Sheaths open, sparsely to evenly pilose or glabrous, margins membranous, overlapping; ligule erose-ciliate, 0.2-0.6 mm long; blades usually involute, filiform, lower surface pubescent.  Panicles often slightly secund, narrow, 2-8 (-12) cm long, with short, ascending branches, sometimes the lower branches spreading; spikelets 3-5 (-6)-flowered; glumes unequal, first glume 3.5-5 (-7) mm long, filiform, 1-nerved, second glume lanceolate, 4.5-8 mm long, prominently 3-nerved, sometimes slightly awn-tipped; lemmas (4-) 5.5-7.5 mm long, minutely scaberulous or glabrous, the awns (4-) 6-11 (-15) mm long; palea narrow, apex bifid.  Caryopsis 3.5-4 mm long"  (Wagner et al., 1999; p. 1603).

Description from GrassBase.

Habitat/ecology:  "Grass- and heathland, riparian habitats, freshwater wetlands, coastal beaches.  This shallow-rooted grass grows well in soils of low fertility.  Where invasive, it successfully competes with native grasses and forbs for water, space and nutrients.  It forms dense swards crowding out native plants and reducing species richness"  (Weber, 2003; p. 452).

In Hawai‘i, "naturalized in dry, disturbed sties such as along roadsides, in pastures, and on rocky slopes, 185-2,590 m" (Wagner et al., 1999; p. 1603).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  "Native to Europe, northern Africa and Asia Minor" (Wagner et al., 1999; p. 1603).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Chile (offshore islands) Juan Fernández Islands	Isla Más a Tierra (Robinson Crusoe Island)	introduced invasive	Atkinson, Rachel/Sawyer, John (2011)
Chile (offshore islands) Juan Fernández Islands	Isla Más a Tierra (Robinson Crusoe Island)	introduced invasive	Danton, Philippe/Perrier, Christophe/Martinez Reyes, Guido (2006) (pp. 461, 465, 558)
Chile (offshore islands) Juan Fernández Islands	Isla Más Afuera (Alejandro Selkirk Island)	introduced invasive	Atkinson, Rachel/Sawyer, John (2011)
Chile (offshore islands) Juan Fernández Islands	Isla Más Afuera (Alejandro Selkirk Island)	introduced invasive	Danton, Philippe/Perrier, Christophe/Martinez Reyes, Guido (2006) (pp. 461, 465, 558)
Chile (offshore islands) Juan Fernández Islands	Isla Santa Clara	introduced invasive	Atkinson, Rachel/Sawyer, John (2011)
Chile (offshore islands) Juan Fernández Islands	Isla Santa Clara	introduced invasive	Danton, Philippe/Perrier, Christophe/Martinez Reyes, Guido (2006) (pp. 461, 465, 558)
Chile (offshore islands) Juan Fernández Islands	Morro Juanango	introduced invasive	Danton, Philippe/Perrier, Christophe/Martinez Reyes, Guido (2006) (p. 558)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Hawai‘i (Big) Island	introduced invasive	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 1603) Voucher cited: Maguire s.n. (BISH)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Kaua‘i Island	introduced invasive	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 1603)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Lāna‘i Island	introduced invasive	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 1603)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Maui Island	introduced invasive	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 1603)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Maui Island	introduced invasive	Starr, Forest/Starr, Kim (2011) (p. 33) East Maui. Voucher cited: Starr & Starr 090504-05 (BISH)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Moloka‘i Island	introduced invasive	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 1603)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	O‘ahu Island	introduced invasive	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 1603)
New Zealand (offshore islands) Kermadec Islands	Kermadec Islands	introduced invasive	Edgar, E./Connor, H. (2000) (p. 208) "Waste land and disturbed ground, stony river beds and dry depleted grassland; sea level to subalpine".

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Australia Australia (continental)	Australia (continental)	introduced invasive	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Chile (continental) Chile	Chile (Republic of)		Hafliger, Ernst/Scholz, Hildemar (1980) (p. 135)
Japan Japan	Japan (country)	introduced	Mito, Toshikazu/Uesugi, Tetsuro (2004) (p. 193)
New Zealand New Zealand	New Zealand (country)	introduced invasive	Edgar, E./Connor, H. (2000) (p. 208) "Waste land and disturbed ground, stony river beds and dry depleted grassland; sea level to subalpine".

Indian Ocean
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Mascarene Islands Mascarene Islands (Mauritius, La Reunion, Rodrigues)	Mascarene Islands	introduced invasive	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)

Control: 

Physical:  "Scattered plants can be hand pulled or dug out.  A combination of grazing in spring (to reduce seed set) and grazing in autumn (to reduce seedling establishment) has shown to reduce the density of the grass".

Chemical:  "Chemical control includes spraying flowering plants with glyphosate to prevent seed set, or treating with simazine, simazine plus paraquat, or dalapon"  (Weber, 2003; p. 452).

Additional information:
Additional online information about Vulpia bromoides is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Information about Vulpia bromoides as a weed (worldwide references) may be available from the Global Compendium of Weeds (GCW).

Taxonomic information about Vulpia bromoides may be available from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).

References:

Atkinson, Rachel/Sawyer, John. 2011. Naturalized species in the Juan Fernández Archipelago, Chile. Unpublished spreadsheet.

Danton, Philippe/Perrier, Christophe/Martinez Reyes, Guido. 2006. Nouveau catalogue de la flore vaculaire de l'archipel Juan Fernández (Chile) [Nuevo catálogo de la flora vacular del Archipélago Juan Fernández (Chile)]. Acta Bot. Gallica 153(4):399-587.

Edgar, E./Connor, H. 2000. Flora of New Zealand, vol. V: Gramineae. Manaaki Whenua Press. .

Hafliger, Ernst/Scholz, Hildemar. 1980. Grass weeds, vol. 2. CIBA-GEIGY Ltd., Basle, Switzerland. 137 pp. + plates.

Mito, Toshikazu/Uesugi, Tetsuro. 2004. Invasive alien species in Japan: the status quo and the new regulation for prevention of their adverse effects. Global Environmental Research 8(2)/2004: 171-191.

Starr, Forest/Starr, Kim. 2011. New plant records from midway Atoll, Maui and Kaho‘olawe. In: Evenhuis, Neal L. and Eldredge, Lucius G., eds. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 2009-2010. Part II: Plants. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers. 110:23-35.

U. S. Government. 2011. Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) (on-line resource).

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2011. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.

Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. 1999. Manual of the flowering plants of Hawaii. Revised edition. Bernice P. Bishop Museum special publication. University of Hawai‘i Press/Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu. 1919 pp. (two volumes).

Weber, Ewald. 2003. Invasive plants of the World. CABI Publishing, CAB International, Wallingford, UK. 548 pp.