358 



MISC. PUBLICATION 200, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



1. Limnodea arkansana (Nutt.) 

 L. H. Dewey. (Fig. 500.) Culms 

 branching at base, 20 to 40 cm. tall; 

 blades more or less pubescent on both 

 surfaces; panicle 5 to 15 cm. long, 

 narrow but loose; spikelets 3.5 to 4 

 mm. long; glumes hispidulous or 



pilose; awn 8 to 10 mm. long. % 

 — Dry soil, prairies and river banks, 

 Coastal Plain, Florida to Texas, Ar- 

 kansas, and Oldahoma. The form 

 with pilose glumes has been called 

 L. arkansana var. pilosa (Trin.) 

 Scribn. 



76. ALOPECURUS L. Foxtail 



Spikelets 1 -flowered, disarticulating below the glumes, strongly com- 

 pressed laterally; glumes equal, usually united at base, ciliate on the keel; 

 lemma about as long as the glumes, 5-nerved, obtuse, 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 perennials or some annuals, with flat blades and soft, dense, 

 spikelike panicles. Type species, Alopecurus pratensis. Name from Greek 

 alopex, fox, and oura, tail, alluding to the cylindric panicle. 



The species of Alopecurus are all palatable and nutritious forage grasses, 

 but usually are not found in sufficient abundance to be of great importance. 

 A. pratensis, meadow foxtail, is sometimes used as a meadow grass in the 

 eastern United States; A. aequalis is the most common on the western ranges. 



Spikelets 5 to 6 mm. long. Introduced perennials. 



Panicle slender, tapering at each end; glumes scabrous on the keel. 



1. A. MYOSUROIDES. 



Panicle cylindric, dense; glumes conspicuously ciliate on the keel 2. A. pratexsis. 



Spikelets 2 to 4 mm. long (rarely 5 mm. in A. saccatas, annual). Native species. 

 Plants perennial. 



Spikelets densely wooll} r all over; panicle oblong, 1 to 5 cm. long, about 1 cm. thick. 



3. A. ALPINUS. 

 Spikelets not woolty; panicle linear or oblong- linear, less than 1 cm. thick. 



Awn scarcely exceeding the glumes 5. A. aequalis. 



Awn exserted 2 mm. or more. 



Awn exserted 2 to 3 mm.; panicle 3 to 4 mm. thick; spikelets 2.5 mm. long. 



6. A. GEXICULATUS. 



Awn exserted 3 to 5 mm.; panicle 4 to 6 mm. thick; spikelets about 3 mm. long. 



4. A. PALLESCEXS. 



Plants annual. 



Spikelets 4 to 5 mm. long; panicle relatively loose _ 9. A. saccatus. 



Spikelets 2 to 3.5 mm. long; panicle dense. 



Spikelets 2 to 2.5 mm. long; anthers 0.5 mm. long 7. A. carolixiaxus. 



Spikelets 3 to 3.5 mm. long; anthers about 1 mm. long 8. A. howellii. 



1. Alopecurus myosuroides Huds. 

 (Fig. 501.) Annual; culms tufted, 



slightly scabrous, 10 to 50 cm. tall, Texas, Washington, to California; in- 

 erect or decumbent at base; blades troduced, rare; Eurasia, 

 usually 2 to 3 mm. wide; panicle 2. Alopecurus pratensis L. Mead- 

 slender, somewhat tapering at each ow foxtail. (Fig. 502.) Perennial; 

 end, 4 to 10 cm. long, 3 to 5 mm. culms erect, 30 to 80 cm. tall; blades 

 wide; glumes 6 mm. long, pointed, 2 to 6 mm. wide; panicle 3 to 7 cm. 

 whitish with 3 green nerves, glabrous, long, 7 to 10 mm. thick; glumes 5 mm. 

 scabrous on the keel, short-ciliate at long, villous on the keel and pubes- 

 base ; lemma about as long as the cent on the sides ; awn exserted 2 to 5 

 glumes, the awn bent, exserted 5 to mm. Ql — Fields and waste places, 

 8 mm. O (A. agrestis L.) — Fields, Newfoundland and Labrador to 

 waste places, and ballast ground, Alaska, south to Delaware and Mis- 

 Maine to North Carolina, Kansas, souri; Montana, Idaho, and Oregon. 



