How to Grow and Care for Vulpia

Rat's-tail fescue (Vulpia myuros), originally from Eurasia, has become naturalized in the USA. It is found on waste ground, alongside roads, and in urban areas and invades arable fields and heavily grazed grasslands. It is regarded as a noxious weed. It gets its name from the seed head, which is long and thin like a rat's tail.

Brome fescue (Vulpia bromoides) is an annual grass that thrives in full sun or partial shade in mostly dry soil. Also called squirrel-tailed fescue, It blooms from late winter to early summer with spikes of blossoms that resemble a squirrel’s tail.

The plant becomes 8 to 50 cm high. The upright or ascending stem is ribbed. The hairy leaf is up to 10 cm long and 1 to 3 mm wide. The upper leaf sheaths are inflated. The blunt tongue is up to 1 mm long.

Six-weeks fescue (Vulpia octoflora) is an annual bunchgrass found all over North America. It grows in sunny, open areas and quickly takes root after wildfires. The unusual name, six-weeks fescue is a reference to its utility—ranchers say it provides about six weeks' worth of forage to their cattle after a good rain.

Small fescue is a slender annual grass with delicate stems reaching up to 60 cm tall. Its tiny greenish to purple spikelets cluster along narrow, erect inflorescences, with fine leaves that curl at maturity. Thriving in open, disturbed habitats, small fescue adapts to dry conditions, its small seedlings swiftly completing their life cycle in the brief wet season.