GRAMINEAE (GRASS FAMILY) 45 
closely enfolds the seed until ripe, when it drops to the ground 
entire. (Fig. 18.) 
Means of control 
Where the ground can be cultivated without danger of loss from 
washing, the sod should be broken up and put to a tilled crop before. 
reseeding with clover or grasses of a better quality. 
MARSH FOXTAIL 
Alopeciirus geniculdtus, L. 
Other English names: Bent Foxtail, 
Water Foxtail, False Timothy. 
Introduced. Perennial. Propagates 
by seeds and by taking root at 
the lower joints. 
Time of bloom: June to August. 
Seed-time: July to September. 
Range: Newfoundland to British 
Columbia, southward throughout 
the United States; also in Europe 
and Asia. 
Habitat: Moist meadows, banks of 
streams, and ditches ; often trouble- 
some in damp cultivated ground. 
A slender, low-growing grass, with 
the habit of forming “knees” and 
rooting at the lower joints; it is 
said to be nutritious grazing when 
young and tender, but yields a very 
small amount of hay to the acre, 
and the hay is of poor, harsh quality. 
Culms eight to eighteen inches 
tall, smooth, simple or sparingly 
branched, erect above the decumbent 
base. Sheaths shorter than the in- 
ternodes, the upper one usually in- 
flated; leaves rough, two to six 
inches long and hardly an eighth of 
an inch wide. Spikes dense, cylin- 
drical, one to three inches long and 
Ny, ig 
Fie. 19.— Marsh Foxtail (Alo- 
pecurus geniculatus). Xi. 
