122 



Fig. 116. AI.OPECURUS PRATENSIS L. Sp. PL 60. 1753. MEADOW FOX- 

 TAIL.— An erect, smooth perennial 3-9 dm. (l°-i°) high, with short, creeping 

 rootstocks, flat, .spreading leaf-blades, and den.se, cylindrical, spike-like panicles 

 5-10 cm. (2'-4') long. Spikelets (a) compressed, 4-6 mm. (2"-3") long; empty 

 glumes distinct or only slightly grown together at the base, abruptly acute, 

 silky villous on the keels, and short pilose on the lateral nerves; flowering 

 glume (b) nearly as long as the empty ones,awned on the back near or below 

 the middle, pubescent near the apex; awn slender, slightly twisted when dry, 

 projecting beyond the glumes.— Naturalized in fields and meadows, Labrador 

 to southern New York, Ohio, and Michigan; also Oregon, Idaho, and California. 

 (Europe, Asia, and Africa. ) June, July. 



A valuable grass for moist meadows and pastures, especially the latter. It is 

 verv hardy, and one of the earliest of our cultivated grasses. 



