BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Vulpia myuros | Foxtail Fescue 



GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS : 
Foxtail fescue is a single or loosely tufted weedy annual [2].  Culms
grow from 7.9 to 23.6 inches (20-60 cm) in height and are decumbent and
geniculate at the lower nodes [2,8].  Blades may be long or short and
either flat or involute [13].  Sheaths are glabrous, blades are narrow,
and panicles are elongated [2].  Spikelets are four- or five-flowered.
The first glume is generally less than one-half as long as the second
glume [10].  The inflorescence is contracted on a rather dense panicle
or spicate raceme [13].  


RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM : 
   Therophyte


REGENERATION PROCESSES : 
Foxtail fescue reproduces by seed which drops to the ground when mature.
Seed production tends to be abundant, and seed is usually viable [18].
   
Optimum germination occurs over a wide range of temperatures.
Germination was inhibited by a constant temperature of 92 degrees
Fahrenhiet (30 deg C) and by wide diurnal fluctuations [21].


SITE CHARACTERISTICS : 
Foxtail fescue is widely distributed on dry, disturbed sites [2].
Although foxtail fescue stands may fluctuate greatly from year to year,
this species tends to be fairly uniformly distributed over extensive
foothill ranges of California [18].  It also occurs as a codominant with
soft brome (Bromus mollis) on an outer, seasonally moist zone of some
California vernal pools [11]. It has been reported at 4,300 feet
(1,312 m) in Utah [4] and occurs from sea level to 4,500 feet (1,373 m)
in California [18].  It is favored on thin to heavily packed acid soils
and on recently burned chaparral in California [18].  In North America,
V. m. var. myuros occurs most commonly in coastal areas [13].


SUCCESSIONAL STATUS : 
Facultative Seral Species

Annual fescues such as foxtail fescue generally occur sporadically but
may become abundant where disturbance occurs [7].  Foxtail fescue is
most typically a constituent of early seral plant communities.  It
dominantes later seres of the annual grasslands of California, however
[16].


SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT : 
Foxtail fescue, an annual, begins growth in the spring and matures
earlier than associated perennial grasses.  At many California sites
maturation is completed from May 1 to May 15 [18].

Related categories for Species: Vulpia myuros | Foxtail Fescue