''Alopecurus'', or foxtail grass, is a common and widespread

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of plants in the

grass family Poaceae ( ), also called Gramineae ( ), is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos, the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in ...

. It is common across temperate and subtropical parts of

Eurasia Eurasia ( , ) is a continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. According to some geographers, Physical geography, physiographically, Eurasia is a single supercontinent. The concept of Europe and Asia as distinct continents d ...

, northern

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

, and the

Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...

, as well as naturalized in Australia and on various islands. Foxtails can be

annual Annual may refer to: *Annual publication, periodical publications appearing regularly once per year **Yearbook **Literary annual *Annual plant *Annual report *Annual giving *Annual, Morocco, a settlement in northeastern Morocco *Annuals (band), a ...

perennial In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...

. They grow in tufts. They have flat

leaves A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, ...

and blunt ligules (a small flap at the junction of leaf and stem). Their inflorescence is a dense

panicle In botany, a panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a p ...

(a branching head without terminal

flower Flowers, also known as blooms and blossoms, are the reproductive structures of flowering plants ( angiosperms). Typically, they are structured in four circular levels, called whorls, around the end of a stalk. These whorls include: calyx, m ...

) with 1-flowered spikelets. A few, particularly ''A. myosuroides'', are considered

weed A weed is a plant considered undesirable in a particular situation, growing where it conflicts with human preferences, needs, or goals.Harlan, J. R., & deWet, J. M. (1965). Some thoughts about weeds. ''Economic botany'', ''19''(1), 16-24. Pla ...

s, others are very decorative and are used in bouquets of dried flowers.

Species

43 species are accepted. * ''

Alopecurus aequalis ''Alopecurus aequalis'' is a common species of grass known as shortawn foxtail or orange foxtail. It is native to much of the temperate Northern Hemisphere from Eurasia to North America. It is most commonly found in areas near fresh water, such a ...

'' – Orange foxtail, shortawn foxtail – Eurasia, Americas * ''

Alopecurus albovii ''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 vari ...

'' – Caucasus * ''

Alopecurus alopecuroides ''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 vari ...

'' – Syria and Israel * ''

Alopecurus anatolicus ''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 vari ...

'' – eastern Turkey * ''

Alopecurus apiatus ''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 vari ...

'' – Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran * ''

Alopecurus arundinaceus ''Alopecurus arundinaceus'', the creeping meadow foxtail or creeping foxtail, is a rhizomatous perennial species in the Grass family (Poaceae). Native to Eurasia and northern Africa, and widely introduced elsewhere, this sod forming grass is use ...

'' – Reed foxtail, creeping foxtail, creeping meadow foxtail – Eurasia, North Africa * ''

Alopecurus aucheri ''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 vari ...

'' – Caucasus, Turkey, Iran * ''

Alopecurus baptarrhenius ''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 vari ...

'' – Ethiopia * ''

Alopecurus bonariensis ''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 vari ...

'' – Argentina, Uruguay * ''

Alopecurus borii ''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 vari ...

'' – Turkmenistan * ''

Alopecurus bornmuelleri ''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 vari ...

'' – Palestine * ''

Alopecurus brachystachus ''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 vari ...

'' – Russia, China, Mongolia * ''

Alopecurus × brachystylus ''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 vari ...

'' – western and northern Europe and Siberia * ''

Alopecurus bulbosus ''Alopecurus bulbosus'', common name bulbous foxtail, is a species of grass. It is a perennial In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals a ...

'' – Bulbous foxtail – Mediterranean, western Europe * '' Alopecurus carolinianus'' – tufted meadow foxtail – US, western Canada * '' Alopecurus creticus'' – Greece, Turkey, Balkans * '' Alopecurus cucullatus'' – central and eastern Mediterranean * '' Alopecurus dasyanthus'' – Caucasus, Iran * '' Alopecurus davisii'' –

Samos Island Samos (, also ; , ) is a Greece, Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea, south of Chios, north of Patmos and the Dodecanese archipelago, and off the coast of western Turkey, from which it is separated by the Mycale Strait. It is also a separate ...

in Greece * ''

Alopecurus geniculatus ''Alopecurus geniculatus'' is a species of grass known by the common name water foxtail or marsh foxtail. It is native to much of Eurasia and introduced into North America, South America, and Australia. It grows in moist areas. ''Alopecurus genic ...

'' – Bent foxtail, marsh meadow foxtail – Algeria, Eurasia * '' Alopecurus gerardii'' – Mediterranean * '' Alopecurus goekyigitianus'' – Turkey * '' Alopecurus glacialis'' – Caucasus, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan * '' Alopecurus × haussknechtianus'' – central + northwestern Europe * '' Alopecurus heliochloides'' – Chile * '' Alopecurus himalaicus'' – Himalayas, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Central Asia,

Xinjiang Xinjiang,; , SASM/GNC romanization, SASM/GNC: Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Sinkiang, officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People' ...

* ''

Alopecurus hitchcockii ''Alopecurus'', or foxtail grass, is a common and widespread genus of plants in the Poaceae, grass family. It is common across temperate and subtropical parts of Eurasia, northern Africa, and the Americas, as well as naturalized in Australia an ...

'' – Peru, Bolivia,

Jujuy San Salvador de Jujuy (), commonly known as Jujuy and locally often referred to as San Salvador, is the capital and largest city of Jujuy Province in northwest Argentina. Also, it is the seat of the Doctor Manuel Belgrano Department. It lies near ...

* '' Alopecurus japonicus'' – China, Japan, Korea * '' Alopecurus laguroides'' – Caucasus, Turkey * '' Alopecurus lanatus'' – Turkey * '' Alopecurus longiaristatus'' –

Heilongjiang Heilongjiang is a province in northeast China. It is the northernmost and easternmost province of the country and contains China's northernmost point (in Mohe City along the Amur) and easternmost point (at the confluence of the Amur and Us ...

Primorye Primorsky Krai, informally known as Primorye, is a federal subject (a krai) of Russia, part of the Far Eastern Federal District in the Russian Far East. The city of Vladivostok on the southern coast of the krai is its administrative center, an ...

Khabarovsk Khabarovsk ( ) is the largest city and the administrative centre of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia,Law #109 located from the China–Russia border, at the confluence of the Amur and Ussuri Rivers, about north of Vladivostok. As of the 2021 Russian c ...

* ''

Alopecurus magellanicus ''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 vari ...

'' – northern Eurasia, North + South America, Falkland Is,

South Georgia South Georgia is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic Ocean that is part of the British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It lies around east of the Falkland Islands. ...

* ''

Alopecurus × marssonii ''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 vari ...

'' – Ukraine * '' Alopecurus mucronatus'' – Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan * ''

Alopecurus myosuroides ''Alopecurus myosuroides'' is an Annual plant, annual Poaceae, grass, native to Eurasia, found in moist meadows, Deciduous, deciduous forests, and on cultivated and waste land. It is also known as slender meadow foxtail, black-grass, twitch grass ...

'' – Slender meadow foxtail, black grass, twitch grass, black twitch – Eurasia, North Africa * '' Alopecurus nepalensis'' – Himalayas, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan * '' Alopecurus × plettkei'' – France, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands * '' Alopecurus ponticus'' – Caucasus * ''

Alopecurus pratensis ''Alopecurus pratensis'', known as the meadow foxtail or the field meadow foxtail, is a Perennial plant, perennial grass belonging to the grass family (Poaceae). It is native to Europe and Asia. This common plant is found on grasslands, especia ...

'' –

meadow foxtail ''Alopecurus pratensis'', known as the meadow foxtail or the field meadow foxtail, is a perennial grass belonging to the grass family (Poaceae). It is native to Europe and Asia. This common plant is found on grasslands, especially on neutral so ...

– Eurasia from Azores to Mongolia * '' Alopecurus rendlei'' – central + southern Europe, Algeria, Libya, Turkey * '' Alopecurus saccatus'' – Pacific foxtail – United States ( WA OR ID CA),

Baja California Baja California, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California, is a state in Mexico. It is the northwesternmost of the 32 federal entities of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1952, the area was known as the North Territory of B ...

* '' Alopecurus setarioides'' – France, Greece, Italy, Balkans, Turkey * '' Alopecurus textilis'' – Turkey, Caucasus, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Turkmenistan * '' Alopecurus turczaninovii'' – Siberia * '' Alopecurus × turicensis'' – France, Switzerland * '' Alopecurus tzvelevii'' – central European Russia * '' Alopecurus utriculatus'' – Greece, Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine * '' Alopecurus vaginatus'' – Crimea, Caucasus, Turkey, Middle East, Iran, Afghanistan * '' Alopecurus × winklerianus'' – France, Switzerland, Germany, Poland

Formerly included

Numerous species once considered part of ''Alopecurus'' but now regarded as better suited to other genera: ''

Agrostis ''Agrostis'' (bent or bentgrass) is a large and very nearly Cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan genus of plants in the Poaceae, grass family, found in nearly all the countries in the world. It has been bred as a Genetically modified organis ...

'', ''

Crypsis In ecology, crypsis is the ability of an animal or a plant to avoid observation or detection by other animals. It may be part of a predation strategy or an antipredator adaptation. Methods include camouflage, nocturnality, subterranean life ...

'', ''

Koeleria ''Koeleria'' is a common and widespread genus of plants in the grass family, found on all continents except Antarctica and on various oceanic islands. It includes species known generally as Junegrasses. The genus was named after German botanis ...

'', '' Milium'', ''

Muhlenbergia ''Muhlenbergia'' is a genus of plants in the grass family. The genus is named in honor of the German-American amateur botanist Gotthilf Heinrich Ernst Muhlenberg (1753-1815). Many of the species are known by the common name muhly. The greatest ...

'', ''

Pennisetum ''Cenchrus'' is a widespread genus of plants in the grass family, native to tropical and warm temperate regions of the world. Its species are native to many countries in Asia, Africa, Australia, the Americas, and various oceanic islands. Comm ...

'', '' Perotis'', ''

Phleum ''Phleum'' (common name timothy) is a genus of annual and perennial plants in the grass family. The genus is native to Europe, Asia and north Africa, with one species (''P. alpinum'') also in North and South America. They are tufted grasses g ...

'', ''

Polypogon ''Polypogon'' is a nearly Cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan genus of plants in the Poaceae, grass family, commonly known beard grass or rabbitsfoot grass. Description ''Polypogon'' species vary in appearance; some are erect, while other ...

'', ''

Rostraria ''Rostraria'' is a genus of plants in the Poaceae, grass family, native primarily to Eurasia and North Africa with one species native to South America. Hairgrass is a common name. These grasses are sometimes included in genus ''Koeleria''. ; Sp ...

'', ''

Setaria ''Setaria'' is a widespread genus of plants in the grass family. The name is derived from the Latin word ''seta'', meaning "bristle" or "hair", which refers to the bristly spikelets. The genus includes over 100 species distributed in many t ...

'' and, '' Tribolium''.Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
/ref>

References

External links

Jepson Manual Treatment

USDA Plants Profile

Grass Manual Genus Treatment
{{Taxonbar, from=Q158104 Poaceae genera Taxa described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus

Species

Formerly included

See also

References

External links