Alopecurus myosuroides

Plants annual; tufted. Culms (10)40-85 cm, erect. Ligules 2-6 mm, obtuse; blades (2)3.5-6 mm wide; upper sheaths somewhat inflated. Panicles 4-12 cm long, 3-7 mm wide. Glumes 4.5-7.5 mm, connate in the lower 1/2, coriaceous, sides glabrous, keels winged, ciliate, scabrous apically, lateral veins ciliate basally or glabrous, apices acute, convergent to parallel; lemmas 4-7 mm, connate in the lower 1/3-1/2, glabrous, apices acute, awns to 12 mm, geniculate, exceeding the lemmas by 3-6 mm; anthers 2.4-4.1 mm, yellow. 2n = 14, 28.

Alopecurus myosuroides is native to Eurasia and grows in moist meadows, deciduous forests, and cultivated or disturbed ground. A significant weed species in temperate cereal crops, it is one of the most damaging weeds of winter cereals in England. It has been introduced repeatedly as a weed of cultivation into many parts of the Flora region, but apparently has not spread to a large degree out of cultivation. Alopecurus myosuroides has been listed as a noxious weed in the state of Washington, one of the states where winter wheat is a major crop.

Tufted annual 3-6 dm, often decumbent at base; infl 5-10 cm נ3-5 mm, tapering to the tip; glumes acute or subacuminate, their margins connate (especially on the inner side) for one-third to half their length, 4.5-6 mm, the keel winged, ciliate below the middle, scabrous above; awn attached below midlength of the lemma, geniculate and exserted 5-7 mm; anthers ca 3 mm; 2n=14. Native of Europe, occasionally found in fields and waste places at scattered stations nearly throughout our range.

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

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