Vahlodea

{{Speciesbox

| image = Vahlodea (Deschampsia) atropurpurea (29097863012).jpg

| display_parents = 4

| genus = Vahlodea

| parent_authority = Fr.

| species = atropurpurea

| authority = (Wahlenb.) Fr.

| synonyms_ref = {{cite POWO |id=426293-1 |title=Vahlodea atropurpurea (Wahlenb.) Fr.|access-date=3 January 2022}}

| synonyms = {{species list

|Aira alpina |Vahl

|Aira atropurpurea |Wahlenb.

|Aira atropurpurea var. magellanica |(Hook.f.) Skottsb.

|Aira latifolia |Hook.

|Aira magellanica |Hook.f.

|Avena atropurpurea |(Wahlenb.) Link

|Deschampsia atropurpurea |(Wahlenb.) Scheele

|Deschampsia atropurpurea var. minor |Vasey

|Deschampsia atropurpurea var. paramushirensis |Kudô

|Deschampsia atropurpurea subsp. paramushirensis |(Kudô) T.Koyama

|Deschampsia atropurpurea var. payettii |Lepage

|Deschampsia brachyphylla |Phil.

|Deschampsia hookeriana |Scribn.

|Deschampsia latifolia |(Hook.) Vasey

|Deschampsia pacifica |Tatew. & Ohwi

|Erioblastus paramushirensis |(Kudô) Honda

|Holcus atropurpureus |(Wahlenb.) Wahlenb.

|Vahlodea atropurpurea subsp. latifolia |(Hook.) A.E.Porsild

|Vahlodea atropurpurea var. patentissima |Hultén

|Vahlodea latifolia |(Hook.) Hultén

|Vahlodea latifolia subsp. paramushirensis |(Kudô) Elven

|Vahlodea magellanica |(Hook.f.) Tzvelev

|Vahlodea paramushirensis |(Kudô) Roshev. }}

}}

Vahlodea is a monotypic genus of plants in the grass family. The only known species is Vahlodea atropurpurea {{small|(Wahlenb.) Fr.}}{{cite web |title=Vahlodea Fr. {{!}} Plants of the World Online {{!}} Kew Science |url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:325019-2 |website=Plants of the World Online |access-date=3 January 2022 |language=en}}

Its native range is the subarctic (such as Greenland), to temperate parts of the Northern Hemisphere. From (Europe within; Finland, North European Russia, Norway and Sweden,) to Asia within (Japan, Kamchatka, Kuril Islands, Magadan and Taiwan,) and in North America (within the Canadian provinces of; Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Ontario, Québec and Yukon and within the USA states of; Alaska, the Aleutian Islands, California, Colorado, Idaho, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, New York, Oregon, Vermont, Washington and Wyoming,) and also southern South America (within Argentina and Chile).

The genus name of Vahlodea is in honour of Jens Vahl (1796–1854), a Danish botanist and pharmacist.{{cite book | last=Burkhardt | first=Lotte | title=Verzeichnis eponymischer Pflanzennamen – Erweiterte Edition |trans-title=Index of Eponymic Plant Names – Extended Edition | publisher=Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum, Freie Universität Berlin | year=2018 | isbn=978-3-946292-26-5 | url=https://doi.org/10.3372/epolist2018 |format=pdf |language=German |location=Berlin | doi=10.3372/epolist2018 |access-date=1 January 2021}} The Latin specific epithet of atropurpurea means "dark-purple coloured".{{cite book | last=Harrison |first=Lorraine | title=RHS Latin for Gardeners | year=2012 |publisher=Mitchell Beazley | location=United Kingdom | isbn=978-1845337315 }}

Both the genus and the sole species were first described and published in Bot. Not. (1842) Vol.141 on page 178 in 1842.

The genus is recognized by the United States Department of Agriculture and the Agricultural Research Service, and they list Vahlodea atropurpurea as the known species.{{cite web |title=Species of Vahlodea Fr. |url=https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/taxon/taxonomygenus?id=16932 |website=npgsweb.ars-grin.gov |access-date=3 January 2022}}

It was thought to be a synonym of Deschampsia {{small|P. Beauv.}},Hickman, J. C., ed. 1993. The Jepson manual: higher plants of CaliforniaHitchcock, A. S. 1950. Manual of the grasses of the United States, ed. 2 but a 2007 molecular phylogenetic study supported the recognition of Avenella and Vahlodea.