Fescue, but which?

[JennyS]

Well, I'm pretty sure its a Fescue, but not sure whether its Squirrel-tail or Dune......





And is this one below a different one?

[Jez]

I'm rubbish when it comes to grasses, sorry I can't be of any help, but it's one thing i'd like to improve on as there are many nice variety's, my favourite being Wood Meliot!

[aeshna5]

Originally Posted by Jez

I'm rubbish when it comes to grasses, sorry I can't be of any help, but it's one thing i'd like to improve on as there are many nice variety's, my favourite being Wood Meliot!

Don't recognise that name, Jez! Do you mean Wood Melick?

[aeshna5]

Looks like Dune Fescue, Vulpia fasciculata, to me.

[leifus]

i agree with aeshna5 what habitat did you find it in?

[Jez]

Originally Posted by aeshna5

Don't recognise that name, Jez! Do you mean Wood Melick?

Oops sorry yes Melick is what I meant to type, silly butter fingers

[JennyS]

Looks like Dune Fescue, Vulpia fasciculata, to me.

Thank you, I'll run the photos past the H6 / H12 recorder as I can't find any records of V. fasciculata for SW Ireland .........

Any thoughts on the grass scan at the bottom of the post ... same species or different?

[AlanS]

Hi Jenny,

I've been away from the Forum for a while but I see you are still posting pictures of plants that you are really not supposed to be finding in SW Ireland!

I agree that the Vulpia is certainly V. fasciculata. My impression is that it has been increasing here in Britain and, if it has recently spread to SW Ireland, that would fit in with what it seems to be doing here.

As for your lowest photograph, there are two grasses there.

In the centre (accepting that the coin is occupying the left) you have a very miserable scrap of something, probably Anisantha sterilis - though I note that this is not so common in SW Ireland. I prefer not to be definite.

To the right you might have something very interesting indeed.

It is Bromus hordeaceus, Soft Brome - so not so exciting so far.
BUT, your plant is very small, has multiple flowering stems, even if only 1-2 spikelets on each, and it looks like it may have glabrous lemmas. The critical character is the lemma length, which I am not going to guess from the coin (even though I ventured to Foreign Parts this month and might have an equivalent amongst my holiday money).

What I am thinking of is Bromus hordeaceus subsp. thominei.
The current Atlas has no Irish records at all, though this is ludicrous. Because it has been confused in Britain with the much commoner (but declining?) Bromus x pseudothominei, it has had to be re-recorded in recent years. It is very much a plant of the small annual communities in sand, locally common but still very under-recorded around the British coast and locally abundant inland in sandy areas such as the Breckland of East Anglia. It would be very strange if it didn't have a similar distribution in Ireland.

I am not giving this as a definite ID - the measurements are critical (lemma 6.5 - 7.5 or 8.0 mm in subsp. thominei; 8-11 mm in subsp. hordeaceus) - and it would need to be seen by a referee, but what I am saying is that you have a grass that looks a good candidate.

But very often, small plants from dunes do turn out to be just starved plants of the common subsp. hordeaceus, so best to have that as the initial hypothesis until it is firmly disproved.

Alan

[JennyS]

Hi Alan - good to see you back again!

I see you are still posting pictures of plants that you are really not supposed to be finding in SW Ireland!

They just sort of wink at me and I wonder what they are ......

I've got in touch with Paul Green to ask if he can determine the Bromus for me, and I'll post further details when I find out more. That could be a very interesting find!

[JennyS]

Thank you Alan!

I sent a specimen of the Bromus to Tom Cope at Kew and have just received an email from him confirming that it can be recorded as Bromus hordeaceus subsp. thominei.

But not for long -
Quote: "in the forthcoming BSBI Grass Handbook I have abandoned the subspecies of B. hordeaceus."