Plants perennial; cespitose. Culms 9-75 cm, erect or decumbent. Ligules 2-6.5 mm, obtuse, puberulent dorsally; blades 2-10 cm long, 1-5(8) mm wide; upper sheaths not inflated. Panicles 1-9 cm long, 3-9 mm wide. Glumes 1.8-3.7 mm, connate near the base, membranous, pubescent on the sides, keels not winged, ciliate, apices obtuse, sometimes erose, pale green, occasionally purplish; lemmas 1.5-2.5(3.5) mm, connate in the lower 1/3-1/2, glabrous, apices obtuse, awns 0.7-3 mm, straight, exceeding the lemmas by 0-2.5 mm; anthers 0.5-1.2 mm, usually pale to deep yellow or orange, rarely purple. Caryopses 1-1.8 mm. 2n = 14, 28.
Alopecurus aequalis is native to temperate zones of the Northern Hemisphere. It generally grows in wet meadows, forest openings, shores, springs, and along streams, as well as in ditches, along roadsides, and in other disturbed sites, from sea level to subalpine elevations.
Alopecurus aequalis is the most widespread and variable species of Alopecurus in the Flora region. Despite its variability, only the phenotype found in the low marshes of Marin and Sonoma counties, California merits formal recognition. Some high elevation plants of the Sierra Nevada have unusually long awns (exserted by up to 1.5 mm) and anthocyanic spikelets but, like the semi-aquatic ecotype A. aequalis var. natans (Wahlenb.)
Fernald, they do not warrant taxonomic recognition.
Alopecurus haussknechtianus Asch. & Graebn.
is a hybrid between A. aequalis and A. geniculatus, which occurs fairly frequently in areas of sympatry, particularly in drier midcontinental areas in Alberta to Saskatchewan, south to Arizona and New Mexico. The hybrids apparently have 2n = 14; they are sterile.
Annual or short-lived perennial 2-5 dm; culms very slender, erect or decumbent at base, solitary or in small tufts; infl slender, 2-8 cm נ3-5 mm, scarcely tapering; glumes 2-2.7 mm, connate near the base, blunt and scarious at the tip, villous-ciliate on the keel; awn attached just below midlength of the lemma, straight, equaling the glumes or exsert to 0.5(-1) mm; anthers 0.5-1 mm; 2n=14. In mud or shallow water; circumboreal, s. to N.J., Ind., Mo., and Calif.
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.
Common Name: shortawn foxtail Duration: Perennial Nativity: Native Lifeform: Graminoid General: Tufted perennial with glabrous or scabrous herbage, stems 9-75 cm tall, erect or decumbent. Vegetative: Blades 2-10 cm long, 1-5 mm wide, flat, with ligules 2-6.5 mm, obtuse and puberulent dorsally. Inflorescence: Panicle 1-9 cm long, 3-9 mm wide, glumes subequal, 1.5-4 mm, connate near the base, sharply keeled, membranous, pubescent on the sides, ciliate, with obtuse apices, sometimes erose and pale green, occasionally purplish; lemma equaling the glumes, oblong, glabrous with awn 1-3 mm long, usually included in the spikelet or barely protruding from the spikelet. Ecology: Found in wet meadows, along stream banks and in moist canyon sites from 5,000-9,000 ft (1524-2743 m); flowers June-August. Notes: Distinguished by its straight awn that is included in the spikelet. Ethnobotany: Used between rocks to prevent steam from escaping when cooking food. Etymology: Alopecurus comes from the Greek alopekouros, meaning a grass like a fox-s tail, while aequalis means equal. Synonyms: None Editor: SBuckley, 2010