MANUAL OF THE GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES 



345 



to Texas, Arkansas, and 

 Oklahoma (fig. 7 5). The 

 form with pilose glumes has 

 been called L. arkansana tut. 

 pilosa (Trin.) Scribn. 



69. ALOPECURUS L 



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, 

 spikehke panicles. Type 



Figure 705. — Distribution of 

 Limnodea arkansana. 



species, Alopecurus pratensis. 

 Xame 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 

 grass in the eastern United * 

 States ; A. aequalis is the most 

 common on the western 



ranges. 



Figure 704. 



-Limnodea arkansana. 'Plant, X J4; glumes and 

 floret, X 10. (Orcutt 5910, Tex.) " 



