Alopecurus arundinaceus |
Alopecurus |
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creeping foxtail, creeping meadow-foxtail, vulpin roseau |
foxtail, meadow-foxtail |
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Habit | Plants short-lived perennials; rhizomatous. | Plants annual or perennial; sometimes cespitose, sometimes shortly rhizomatous. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Culms | 30-110 cm, erect. |
5-110 cm, clumped or solitary, erect or decumbent, occasionally cormlike at the base; nodes glabrous. |
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Leaves | inserted mostly on the lower 1/2 of the culms; sheaths open, upper sheaths sometimes inflated; auricles absent; ligules 0.6-6.5 mm, truncate to acute, membranous, puberulent or glabrous, entire to lacerate; blades 0.7-12 mm wide, flat or involute, glabrous or scabrous, blades of uppermost leaves sometimes short or absent. |
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Panicles | 3-10 cm long, 7-13 mm wide. |
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Inflorescences | terminal panicles, spikelike, capitate to cylindrical; branches usually shorter than 5 mm, lower branches sometimes to 2 cm; disarticulation below the glumes. |
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Spikelets | 1.8-7 mm, pedicellate, strongly laterally compressed, oval in outline, with 1 floret; rachillas not prolonged beyond the base of the floret. |
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Glumes | 3.6-5 mm, connate in the lower 1/5-1/3, membranous, sparsely pubescent, keels not winged, ciliate, apices acute, divergent, pale green to lead-gray; lemmas 3.1-4.5 mm, connate in at least the lower 1/3, usually glabrous, sometimes with scattered hairs near the apices, apices truncate to obtuse, awns 1.5-7.5 mm, geniculate, exceeding the lemmas by 0-3 mm; anthers 2.2-3.5 mm. |
equaling or exceeding the florets, membranous or coriaceous, free or connate in at least the lower 1/2, narrowing from above midlength, 3-veined, keeled, keels ciliate, at least basally, apices obtuse to acute or shortly awned; calluses blunt, glabrous; lemmas membranous, margins often connate in the lower 1/2, keeled, indistinctly 3-5-veined, apices truncate to acute, awned dorsally from just above the base to about midlength, geniculate or straight; paleas absent or greatly reduced; lodicules absent; anthers 3, 0.3-4.1 mm; ovaries glabrous; styles fused, with 2 branches. |
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Caryopses | shorter than the lemmas, concealed at maturity, glabrous; hila short, x = 7. |
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Ligules | 1.3-5 mm, truncate; blades 6-40 cm long, 3-12 mm wide; upper sheaths somewhat inflated. |
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2n | = 26, 28, 30. |
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Alopecurus arundinaceus |
Alopecurus |
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Distribution |
AZ; CO; ID; KY; MT; ND; NE; SD; UT; WA; WY; AB; LB; MB; NT
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AK; AL; AR; AZ; CA; CO; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; MT; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; TX; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NL; NS; NT; NU; ON; PE; QC; SK; YT; Greenland |
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Discussion | Alopecurus arundinaceus is native to Eurasia, extending north of the Arctic Circle and south to the Mediterranean. It grows in wet, moderately acid to moderately alkaline soils, on flood plains, near vernal ponds, and along rivers, streams, bogs, potholes, and sloughs. It was introduced for pasture in North Dakota and now occurs more widely, having been promoted as a forage species. It is sometimes used in seed mixtures for revegetation projects. It was evaluated for revegetation in Alberta, but there is no evidence that it was ever actually used in that province. Alopecurus arundinaceus suppresses Hordeum jubatum, a troublesome, unpalatable, weedy species, in irrigated pastures (Moyer and Boswall 2002). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Alopecurus is a genus of 36 species that grow primarily in open, mesic habitats, and are native to the northern temperate zone and South America. Four species are native to the Flora region, four were introduced and have become established, and two were introduced and are not known to persist. Some species, including some native to the Flora region, have been introduced as pasture grasses outside of their native ranges. Of these, only A. pratensis has become widely naturalized. Some species of Alopecurus can appear similar to Phleum, which has truncate glumes that are abruptly awned or mucronate, lemmas without awns or keels, and well-developed paleas; Alopecurus has glumes that are obtuse to acute and gradually awned or unawned, lemmas with both awns and keels, and paleas that are absent or greatly reduced. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 24, p. 782. | FNA vol. 24, p. 780. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Poeae > Alopecurus | Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Poeae | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Synonyms | A. ventricosus | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Name authority | Poir. | L. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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