Alopecurus

Foxtail grass
Slender meadow foxtail
(Alopecurus myosuroides)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Clade: Commelinids
Order: Poales
Family: Poaceae
Subfamily: Pooideae
Supertribe: Poodae
Tribe: Poeae
Subtribe: Alopecurinae
Genus: Alopecurus
L.[1]
Type species
Alopecurus pratus L.[2][3]
Synonyms[4]
  • Alopecuropsis Opiz
  • Cerdosurus Ehrh.
  • Colobachne P.Beauv.
  • Tozzettia Savi
meadow foxtail
(Alopecurus pratensis) [5]

Alopecurus, or foxtail grass, is a common and widespread genus of plants in the grass family. It is common across temperate and subtropical parts of Eurasia, northern Africa, and the Americas, as well as naturalized in Australia and on various islands.[6]

Foxtails can be annual or perennial. They grow in tufts. They have flat leaves and blunt ligules (a small flap at the junction of leaf and stem). Their inflorescence is a dense panicle (a branching head without terminal flower) with 1-flowered spikelets. A few, particularly A. myosuroides, are considered weeds, others are very decorative and are used in bouquets of dried flowers.

Species[4]
formerly included[4]

Numerous species once considered part of Alopecurus but now regarded as better suited to other genera: Agrostis, Cornucopiae, Crypsis, Koeleria, Milium, Muhlenbergia, Pennisetum, Perotis, Phleum, Polypogon, Rostraria, Setaria and, Tribolium.

  1. ^ Linnaeus, Carl von 1753. Species Plantarum 1: 60–61 in Latin
  2. ^ lectotype designated by Cope, Regnum Veg. 127: 17 (1993)
  3. ^ Tropicos, Alopecurus L.
  4. ^ a b c Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
  5. ^ illustration from Thomé, Flora von Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz 1885
  6. ^ Watson L, Dallwitz MJ. (2008). "The grass genera of the world: descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval; including synonyms, morphology, anatomy, physiology, phytochemistry, cytology, classification, pathogens, world and local distribution, and references". The Grass Genera of the World. Retrieved 2009-08-19.