Relatives

Alopecurus geniculatus L. - Bent Foxtail, Marsh Foxtail.

Taxonomic position.

Family Poaceae Benth. genus Alopecurus L.

Morphology and biology.

Annual grass. Culms numerous (10-45 per bunch), 30 - 50 cm tall. Leaves flat, 2 - 3 mm wide; ligule rounded, 2.5 - 3.5 mm long. Inflorescence cylindrical, 3-5 cm long, 0.4-0.6 cm wide. Spikelets oblong-elliptic, arranged on short branches by 3; glumes long-ciliate along keel with few hairs on the rest surface; lemma obtuse, almost truncate. Flowers in June - August. Anemophilous. 2n=28.

Distribution.

Forest zone of the European part of the former USSR; Scandinavia, Atlantic and Central Europe; alien in the Far East and North America.

Ecology.

River banks and watersides, roadsides and ditch edges, damp meadows.

Use and economic value.

Forage grass.

References:

Shelyag-Sosonko YuR., ed. Grasses of Ukraine. 1977. Kiev: Naukova Dumka. 518 p. (In Russian).
Kharkevich SS., ed. 1985. Vascular plants of the Soviet Far East. V.1. Leningrad: Nauka. 398 p. (In Russian).
Tzvelev NN. 1976. Grasses of the Soviet Union. Leningrad: Nauka. 788 p. (In Russian).

© L.L.Malyshev

© Photo by N.Yu.Malysheva, L.L.Malyshev
 

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