Plants short-lived perennials; rhizomatous. Culms 30-110 cm, erect. Ligules 1.3-5 mm, truncate; blades 6-40 cm long, 3-12 mm wide; upper sheaths somewhat inflated. Panicles 3-10 cm long, 7-13 mm wide. Glumes 3.6-5 mm, connate in the lower 1/3, membranous, sparsely pubescent, keels not winged, ciliate, apices acute, diverging, pale green to lead-gray; lemmas 3.1-4.5 mm, connate for at least 1/3 of their length, glabrous or sometimes with scattered hairs near the apices, apices truncate to obtuse, awns 1.5-7.5 mm, geniculate, exceeding the lemmas by 0-3 mm; anthers 2.2-3.5 mm. 2n = 26, 28, 30.
Alopecurus arundinaceus is native to Eurasia, extending north of
the Arctic Circle and south to the Mediterranean. It grows on wet, moderately
acid to moderately alkaline soils, on flood plains, vernal ponds, and along
rivers, streams, bogs, potholes, and sloughs. It was introduced for pasture
in North Dakota and now occurs more widely, having been promoted as a
forage species, and is sometimes used in seed mixtures for revegetation
projects. It was evaluated for revegetation in Alberta, but there is no
evidence that it was ever actually used in that province. Alopecurus
arundinaceus was
found to suppress Hordeum jubatum,
a troublesome, unpalatable, weedy species, in irrigated pastures (Moyer
and Boswall 2002).