Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center


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Northeast Wetland Flora

Field Office Guide to Plant Species

Mouse Foxtail
Alopecurus myosuroides Huds.

JPG -- Species Photo JPG -- Distribution Map

Family: Grass (Gramineae)
Flowering: May-September
Field Marks: This foxtail differs from all others by its spikelets 1/4-1/3 inch long and the awn of the lemma 1/4-1/3 inch long.
Habitat: Open areas, meadows, pastures, ditches.
Habit: Annual grass with fibrous roots.
Stems: Upright or ascending, slender, somewhat rough to the touch, up to 2 feet tall.
Leaves: Elongated, flat, rough to the touch, 1/10-1/6 inch wide.
Flowers: Borne in spikelets, with many spikelets crowded into slender, spike-like panicles, the panicles up to 4 inches long, up to 1/4 inch thick.
Spikelets: 1-flowered, flat, 1/4-1/3 inch long, the glumes pointed, hairy only on the keel below the middle, the lemma longer than the glumes, with a slightly bent awn inserted near the base of the lemma and about twice as long as the glumes.
Sepals: 0.
Petals: 0.
Stamens: 3.
Pistils: Ovary superior.
Fruits: Grains narrowly ellipsoid, smooth.
Notes: Gleason and Cronquist call this family Poaceae. This species is a naturalized introduced species from Europe.

Previous Species -- Meadow Foxtail (Alopecurus geniculatus)
Return to Species List -- Group 2
Next Species -- Meadow Foxtail (Alopecurus pratensis)

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