Abstract
The taxonomic relationship of populations of the genus Vulpia and the patterns of variation within these populations were studied. The taxa delimited in this study are: Vulpia octoflora, V. sclurea, V. bromoides, V. myuros, and V. microstachys. Consideration was given to the generic characteristics of the closely related genus Festuca. Anatomical, cytological, and chromatographic characteristics were related to morphological data from herbarium specimens and population samples. The herbarium specimens were selected from a broad area of North America, and the population samples were taken in East Texas, Arizona, and Kansas. Transverse sections of the leaf, culm, and epidermal preparations of the abaxial leaf surface and the lemma did not provide characters of value in distinguishing taxa. All Vulpia and Festuca material examined anatomically was typically "festucoid." Double vascular bundle sheaths and irregularly-arranged chlorenchyma cells were found in transverse sections of the leaf blade. The culms commonly had hallowed internodes, and the vascular bundles were arranged in two peripheral rings. In the leaf epidermis, short cells over the vascular bundles were solitary paired. Macrohairs were present near the leaf margins, but microhairs were absent. Round or elliptical silica bodies occurred in short cells, while other short cells were cork and contains conspicuous silica granules. Subsidiary cells of the stomatal apparatus were dome-shaped. The lemma epidermis was characterized by deeply sinuous walls of the long cells..
Lonard, Robert I. (1971). A biosystematic study of the genus Vulpia (gramineae). Doctoral dissertation, Texas A&M University. Texas A&M University. Libraries. Available electronically from
https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /DISSERTATIONS -178659.