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.

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

43 species are accepted.

• Alopecurus aequalis – Orange foxtail, shortawn foxtail – Eurasia, Americas

• Alopecurus albovii – Caucasus

• Alopecurus alopecuroides – Syria and Israel

• Alopecurus anatolicus – eastern Turkey

• Alopecurus apiatus – Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran

• Alopecurus arundinaceus – Reed foxtail, creeping foxtail, creeping meadow foxtail – Eurasia, North Africa

• Alopecurus aucheri – Caucasus, Turkey, Iran

• Alopecurus baptarrhenius – Ethiopia

• Alopecurus bonariensis – Argentina, Uruguay

• Alopecurus borii – Turkmenistan

• Alopecurus bornmuelleri – Palestine

• Alopecurus brachystachus – Russia, China, Mongolia

• Alopecurus × brachystylus – western and northern Europe and Siberia

• Alopecurus bulbosus – 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 in Greece

• Alopecurus geniculatus – 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

• Alopecurus hitchcockii – Peru, Bolivia, Jujuy

• Alopecurus japonicus – China, Japan, Korea

• Alopecurus laguroides – Caucasus, Turkey

• Alopecurus lanatus – Turkey

• Alopecurus longiaristatus – Heilongjiang, Primorye, Khabarovsk

• Alopecurus magellanicus – northern Eurasia, North + South America, Falkland Is, South Georgia

• Alopecurus × marssonii – Ukraine

• Alopecurus mucronatus – Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan

• Alopecurus myosuroides – 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 – meadow foxtail – 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

• 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, Crypsis, Koeleria, Milium, Muhlenbergia, Pennisetum, Perotis, Phleum, Polypogon, Rostraria, Setaria and Tribolium.

See also

• List of Poaceae genera

References

External links

• Jepson Manual Treatment

• USDA Plants Profile

• Grass Manual Genus Treatment