Identification Meadow Foxtail | Slide Mouse
Foxtail seed heads photo by laura kenny during pennsylvania summers many pastures and hayfields contain an intruder.
Identification meadow foxtail. Alopecurus pratensis known as the meadow foxtail or the field meadow foxtail is a perennial grass belonging to the grass family poaceae. At first glance it looks like the popular timothy grass but a close inspection can tell you that it s really foxtail. Meadow foxtail comes into flower at the beginning of may. Foxtail is a problematic grass in pastures and hayground and infestations need immediate attention.
It grows well on moist soils and forms a sod. Panicles are cylindrical blunt and soft 2 to 10 cm long and 5 to 10 mm wide. Meadow foxtail has relatively large spikelets 4 to 6 mm long and conspicuous awns that extend well beyond the tip of the spikelet. Yellow green and giant.
It can sometimes beat sweet vernal grass into being the first grass to flower. Charles scribner s sons new york. Spikelets are 4 to 6 mm long oblong to elliptical having lanceolate pointed glumes fringed with hairs on the keels. Leaves decrease in width at the uppermost portion of the stem and have slightly sawtoothed margins.
The edges are rough. This common plant is found on grasslands especially on neutral soils. Britton n l and a. Of the other alopecurus species in minnesota carolina foxtail a.
Green or purple flushed. Tufted grass 30 to 100 cm tall usually erect occasionally kneed at base. By then timothy also known as cat s tail has also come into flower. Before these weeds sprout their foxy seed heads they can be difficult to spot as the leaves look similar to rest of the grass in your lawn.
Small infestations of foxtail should be spot treated while larger infestations require whole pasture renovation. An early fast growing dark green grass that looks similar to timothy. Carolinianus is the only other with such conspicuous awns but it is a much smaller plant with much smaller spikelets less than 3 5 mm long. The sheath is split with the margins overlapping.
This informational paper describes proper foxtail management and control in a forage setting. If it is late june or july you have to look a bit harder. Foxtail is a common annual grassy weed that rears its ugly head in summer and comes in 3 common types. It is native to europe and asia.
An illustrated flora of the northern united states canada and the british possessions. Foxtail is a summer annual grass meaning it grows from seed in the spring and dies in the fall. The upper surface is prominently ribbed.