Alopecurus
Alopecurus rendlei
foxtail, meadow-foxtail
Rendle's Meadow foxtail
5-110 cm, clumped or solitary, erect or decumbent, occasionally cormlike at the base;
nodes glabrous.
8-30(40) cm, erect or decumbent.
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.
1-3.2 cm long, 5-11 mm wide.
terminal panicles, spikelike, capitate to cylindrical;
branches usually shorter than 5 mm, lower branches sometimes to 2 cm;
disarticulation below the glumes.
1.8-7 mm, pedicellate, strongly laterally compressed, oval in outline, with 1 floret;
rachillas not prolonged beyond the base of the floret.
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.
5-6.4 mm, connate in the lower 1/4-1/3, dilated and coriaceous in the lower 1/2, pilose or glabrous in the lower 1/2, indurate and constricted above the middle, keels not winged, ciliate on all veins, apices acute, slightly divergent;
lemmas 5.6-6.4 mm, connate basally, glabrous or puberulent distally, apices coriaceous, acuminate, awns 6.5-18 mm, geniculate, exceeding the lemmas by 0.8-7.2 mm;
anthers about 3 mm.
shorter than the lemmas, concealed at maturity, glabrous;
hila short, x = 7.
0.6-3 mm, obtuse;
blades 1-16 cm long, 1-3 mm wide;
upper sheaths inflated.
3.5-4.5 mm.
= 14.
Alopecurus
Alopecurus rendlei
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.)
Alopecurus rendlei is native to wet meadows, and adventive in roadsides and waste places, in southern and western Europe. It was found growing on ballast in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1880; it has not been collected in North America since then.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Glume keels winged; glumes glabrous, pubescent over the veins. | → 2 |
2. Glumes 4.5-7.5 mm long, connate in the lower 1/2, the apices acute, convergent to parallel; lemma apices acute | A. myosuroides |
2. Glumes 3-4.5 mm long, connate in the lower 1/2 - 4/5, the apices obtuse, mucronate, divergent; lemma apices truncate | A. creticus |
1. Glume keels not winged; glumes usually sparsely to densely pubescent, sometimes glabrous. | → 3 |
3. Plants annual, without rhizomes, not rooting at the lower nodes; blades 1-16 cm long, 0.9-4 mm wide; culms 5-50 cm tall. | → 4 |
4. Glumes 5-6.4 mm long, coriaceous and dilated in the lower 1/2; glume and lemma apices acute to acuminate; anthers about 3 mm long | A. rendlei |
4. Glumes 2.1-5 mm long, membranous, not dilated below; glume and lemma apices obtuse; anthers 0.3-1.8 mm long. | → 5 |
5. Upper sheaths conspicuously inflated; glumes 3-5 mm long; lemmas 3-5 mm long, awns exceeding the lemmas by 3-6 mm; panicles 5.5-13 mm wide, excluding the awns | A. saccatus |
5. Upper sheaths not or only slightly inflated; glumes 2.1-3.1 mm long; lemmas 1.9-2.7 mm long, awns exceeding the lemmas by 1.6-4 mm; panicles 3-6 mm wide, excluding the awns | A. carolinianus |
3. Plants perennial, often rhizomatous, sometimes rooting at the lower nodes; blades 2-40 cm long, 1-12 mm wide; culms 5-110 cm tall. | → 6 |
6. Glumes 1.8-3.7 mm long, the apices obtuse; anthers 0.5-2.2 mm long. | → 7 |
7. Awns geniculate, exceeding the lemmas by 1.2-4 mm; anthers (0.9)1.4-2.2 mm long | A. geniculates |
7. Awns straight, not exceeding the lemmas or exceeding them by less than 2.5 mm; anthers 0.5-1.2 mm long | A. aequalis |
6. Glumes 3-6 mm long, the apices acute; anthers 2-4 mm long. | → 8 |
8. Glume margins connate in the lower 1/8; glumes densely pilose throughout | A. magellanicus |
8. Glume margins connate in the lower 1/5 – 1/3; glumes with long hairs mainly restricted to the veins. | → 9 |
9. Lemma apices acute; glume apices parallel or convergent | A. pratensis |
9. Lemma apices obtuse to truncate; glume apices divergent | A. arundinaceus |
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