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Alopecurus myosuroides

(Slender Meadow Foxtail)

Common Names

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Click on the language to view common names.

Common Names in Czech:

Psárka Polní

Common Names in Danish:

Ager-Rævehale

Common Names in Dutch:

Duist

Common Names in English:

Black Grass, Black Twitch, Blackgrass, Large Foxtail, Mouse Foxtail, Slender Foxtail, Slender Meadow Foxtail, Twitch Grass

Common Names in French:

Vulpin Des Champs, Vulpin Fausse Queue De Souris

Common Names in German:

Acker-Fuchsschwanz

Common Names in Italian:

Coda Di Topo Dei Campi, Erba Codina

Common Names in Polish:

Wyczyniec Polny

Common Names in Portuguese:

Capim-Cauda-De-Raposa-Do-Campo, Capim-Cauda-De-Raposa-Do-Campo (Brazil)

Description

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Family Poaceae

Annual or perennial herbs, or tall woody bamboos . Flowering stems (culms ) jointed , internodes hollow or solid; branches arising singly from nodes and subtended by a leaf sheath and 2-keeled prophyll, often fascicled in bamboos. Leaves arranged alternately in 2 ranks , differentiated into sheath, blade , and an adaxial erect appendage at sheath/blade junction (ligule) ; leaf sheath surrounding and supporting culm-internode, split to base or infrequently tubular with partially or completely fused margins , modified with reduced blade in bamboos (culm sheaths) ; leaf blades divergent, usually long, narrow and flat, but varying from inrolled and filiform to ovate , veins parallel, sometimes with cross-connecting veinlets (especially in bamboos) ; ligule membranous or a line of hairs . Inflorescence terminal or axillary , an open, contracted , or spikelike panicle, or composed of lax to spikelike racemes arranged along an elongate central axis, or digitate, paired , or occasionally solitary; axillary inflorescences often many, subtended by spatheoles (specialized bladeless leaf sheaths) and gathered into a leafy compound panicle; spikelets often aggregated into complex clusters in bamboos. Spikelets composed of distichous bracts arranged along a slender axis (rachilla) ; typically 2 lowest bracts (glumes ) empty, subtending 1 to many florets ; glumes often poorly differentiated from accompanying bracts in bamboos. Florets composed of 2 opposing bracts enclosing a single small flower, outer bract (lemma) clasping the more delicate, usually 2-keeled inner bract (palea) ; base of floret often with thickened prolongation articulated with rachilla (callus) ; lemma often with apical or dorsal bristle (awn ), glumes also sometimes awned . Flowers bisexual or unisexual ; lodicules (small scales representing perianth) 2, rarely 3 or absent, 3 to many in bamboos, hyaline or fleshy ; stamens 3 rarely 1, 2, 6, or more in some bamboos, hypogynous, filaments capillary , anthers versatile; ovary 1-celled, styles (1 or) 2(rarely 3), free or united at base, topped by feathery stigmas, exserted from sides or apex of floret. Fruit normally a dry indehiscent caryopsis with thin pericarp firmly adherent to seed, pericarp rarely free, fleshy in some bamboos; embryo small or large; hilum punctate to linear .

About 700 genera and 11,000 species: widely distributed in all regions of the world.[1]

Genus Alopecurus

Annual or perennial . Leaf blades linear , flat; ligule membranous. Inflorescence a spikelike panicle, densely cylindrical, spikelets numerous , closely packed; pedicels very short, apices cuplike. Spikelets protogynous, strongly laterally compressed , floret 1, falling entire from pedicel; rachilla extension absent; glumes equal, ± equaling and enclosing floret, broadly lanceolate to oblong , membranous to thinly leathery, prominently 3-veined, strongly keeled , keel usually ciliate , infrequently winged , lower margins almost free or connate for up to half their length , apex obtuse , acute or shortly awned ; lemma broadly lanceolate to ovate , usually thinly membranous, keeled, obscurely 5-veined, smooth , glabrous , lower margins often connate, awned from lower back, apex truncate to acute; awn straight when short or geniculate when longer , column smooth, usually twisted at maturity, bristle scabrid ; palea absent or very small. Lodicules absent; ovary glabrous. Caryopsis obliquely obovate in side view ; endosperm sometimes liquid.

Between 40 and 50 species:temperate and cold regions of the N hemisphere, South America; eight species in China.[2]

Physical Description

Species Alopecurus myosuroides

Annual , tufted . Culms erect or geniculately ascending , up to 80 cm tall. Leaf sheaths smooth , glabrous , upper sheaths slightly inflated ; leaf blades 3-16 cm, 2-9 mm wide, glabrous, abaxial surface smooth or scabrid , adaxial surface scabrid; ligule 2-5 mm. Panicle narrowly cylindrical, up to 10 cm, tapering toward apex, yellow-green, pale green, or purplish. Spikelets narrowly oblong , 4.5-7.5 mm; glumes leathery, punctate-scabrid, keels narrowly winged , wings shortly pilose below, scabrid above, lateral veins very shortly pilose near base , margins connate in lower 1/3-1/2, apices acute; lemma slightly longer than glumes, margins connate in lower 1/3-1/2, awned from near base, apex acute; awn exserted 4-8 mm from spikelet, geniculate . Anthers pale yellow, 2.5-4 mm. 2n = 14. [source]

Habit: Graminoid

Habitat

Fields . This species is adventive or introduced as a fodder grass in North America, Australia, and other temperate regions [3].

Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 4,640 meters (0 to 15,223 feet).[4]

Biology

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Reproduction

Duration: Annual

Taxonomy

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Unambiguous Synonyms

  1. Alopecurus agrestis Linnaeus.

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name . Latest taxonomic scrutiny: 15-Mar-2000

Place of publication : Fl. angl. 23. 1762

Name verified on 06-May-1992 by ARS Systematic Botanists. Last updated: 20-Nov-2007

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Alopecurus

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 213 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus. Here are just 100 of them:

A. adanensis · A. aequalis (Short-Awn Meadow-Foxtail) · A. aequalis sonomensis var. sonomensis (Sonoma Alopecurus) · A. aequalis subsp. amurensis · A. aequalis subsp. aristulatus · A. aequalis var. aequalis (Short-Awn Meadow-Foxtail) · A. aequalis var. sonomensis (Sonoma Shortawn Foxtail) · A. affinis · A. agrestis · A. albovii · A. alpestris · A. alpinus (Boreal Alopecurus) · A. alpinus glaucus (Boreal Alopecurus) · A. alpinus alpinus · A. alpinus var. antarcticus · A. alpinus var. ventricosus · A. altaicus · A. altissimus · A. amurensis · A. anatolicus · A. angustifolius · A. antarcticus · A. antarcticus var. bracteatus · A. antarcticus var. lechleri · A. antarticus · A. anthoxanthoides · A. anthoxantoides · A. apiatus · A. aquaticus · A. aristatus · A. aristulatus · A. aristulatus var. natans · A. aristulosus · A. armenus · A. arrudinaceus · A. arundinaceus (Creeping Meadow Foxtail) · A. arundinaceus subsp. armenus · A. arundinaceus subsp. castellanus · A. arundinaceus x · A. arvensis · A. aucheri · A. australis · A. baikalensis · A. baptarrhenius · A. behringianus · A. bengalensis · A. bertolonii · A. bonariensis · A. borealis · A. borealis glaucus · A. borealis borealis · A. borealis subsp. glaucus · A. borii · A. bornmuelleri · A. brachyglossus · A. brachystachus (Foxtail) · A. brachystachyus · A. brachystylus · A. brachytrichus · A. bracteatus · A. brevifolius · A. bulbosus · A. caesius · A. caespitosus · A. californicus · A. candicans · A. capensis · A. capillaris · A. capitatus · A. carolinianus (Tufted Meadow-Foxtail) · A. cassius · A. castellanus · A. caucasicus · A. caudatus · A. caudicans · A. ciliatus · A. coerulescens · A. cornucopiae · A. creticus (Cretan Meadow Foxtail) · A. crypsoides · A. cucullatus · A. dasyanthus · A. davisii · A. diandrus · A. echinatus · A. effusus · A. elatior · A. elongatus · A. exaltatus · A. fallacinus · A. fasciculatus · A. foliosus · A. fulvus · A. geniculata · A. geniculatus (Marsh Meadow-Foxtail) · A. geniculatus aristulatus · A. geniculatus var. fulvus · A. geniculatus var. geniculatus (Water Foxtail) · A. geniculatus var. microstachyus (Water Foxtail) · A. geniculatus var. patagonicus

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal November 12, 2007:

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. Shou-liang Chen, De-Zhu Li, Guanghua Zhu, Zhenlan Wu, Sheng-lian Lu, Liang Liu, Zheng-ping Wang, Bi-xing Sun, Zheng-de Zhu, Nianhe Xia, Liang-zhi Jia, Zhenhua Guo, Wenli Chen, Xiang Chen, Yang Guangyao, Sylvia M. Phillips, Chris Stapleton, Robert J. Soreng, Susan G. Aiken, Nikolai N. Tzvelev, Paul M. Peterson, Stephen A. Renvoize, Marina V. Olonova & Klaus Ammann "Poaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 22. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  2. Sheng-lian Lu & Sylvia M. Phillips "Alopecurus". in Flora of China Vol. 22 Page 316, 364. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  3. "Alopecurus myosuroides". in Flora of China Vol. 22 Page 365, 366. Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  4. Mean = 114.790 meters (376.608 feet), Standard Deviation = 148.390 based on 3,967 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]
Last Revised: 7/1/2009