MANUAL OF THE GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES 345 



to Texas, Arkansas, and 

 Oklahoma (fig. 705). The 

 form with pilose glumes has 

 been called L. arkansana var. 

 pilosa (Trin.) Scribn. 



69. ALOPECTJRUSL 

 FOXTAIL 



Spikelets 1 -flowered, dis- 

 articulating below the glumes, 

 strongly compressed later- 

 ally; glumes equal, usually 

 united at base, ciliate on the 

 keel; lemma about as long 

 as the glumes, 5-nerved, ob- 

 tuse, the margins united at 

 base, bearing from below the 

 middle a slender dorsal awn, 

 this included or exserted two 

 or three times the length of 

 the spikelet; palea wanting. 

 Low or moderately tall per- 

 ennials or rarely annuals, with 

 flat blades and soft, dense, 

 spikelike panicles. Type 



FIGURE 705. Distribution of 

 Limnodea arkansana. 



species, Alopecurus pratensis. 

 Name from Greek alopex, 

 fox, and oura tail, alluding to 

 the cylindric panicle. 



The species of Alopecurus 

 are all palatable and nutri- 

 tious forage grasses, but us- 

 ually are not found in suffi- 

 cient abundance to be of 

 great importance. A. pra- 

 tensis, meadow foxtail, is 

 sometimes used as a meadow 



frass in the eastern United ~ 

 tates ; A. aequalis is the most 

 common on the western 



FIGURE 7Q4.~Limnodea arkansana. Plant, X K; glumes and 

 floret> x 10 (Qrcutt 5910, Tex.) 



