Meadow foxtail
Prepared by Jennifer L. D’Appollonio, Assistant Scientist, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469. Updated February 2018.
Scientific name: Alopecurus pratensis L.
Common name(s): meadow foxtail, field meadow foxtail, common foxtail
Links: USDA PLANTS Profile, Go Botany
Images: (to see enlargements [PC]: click on image, then right click and choose “view image”)
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- stem detail
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- inflorescence, early June
Description:
– perennial, rhizomatous
-1-4 feet in height
-leaf blade is1.9–8 mm in width
- basal and alternate
- lance-linear
-hairless sheaths
-inflorescence
-Spikelets, flower clusters are
- 4 to 6 mm long
- flattened
- narrowly oblong-elliptic
- has a single floret
- light to medium green at flowering time
-At the base of a spikelet is a pair of bracts (glumes)
– in ME or MA, may be confused with A. myosuroides in moist areas; see left sidebar on Go Botany webpage
Habitat:
-disturbed sites
-meadows
-fields
Natural History:
-native to Eurasia and North Africa
-introduced as a pasture grass
Sources:
Go Botany. “Alopecurus Pratensis L.” Alopecurus Pratensis (Field Meadow-Foxtail): Go Botany, National Science Foundation , 2021, gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/alopecurus/pratensis/.
“Alopecurus Pratensis (Meadow Foxtail).” Minnesota Wildflowers, Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund, 2021, www.minnesotawildflowers.info/grass-sedge-rush/meadow-foxtail.
Acknowledgement(s):
Eric T. Doucette, Ph.D. – Assistant Professor of Biology, MA College of Liberal Arts, North Adams, MA (updated Feb 2018)