Alopecurus_myosuroides
Alopecurus myosuroides
Species of grass
Alopecurus myosuroides is an annual grass, native to Eurasia, found in moist meadows, deciduous forests, and on cultivated and waste land.[2] It is also known as slender meadow foxtail, black-grass, twitch grass, and black twitch.
| Alopecurus myosuroides | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Monocots |
| Clade: | Commelinids |
| Order: | Poales |
| Family: | Poaceae |
| Subfamily: | Pooideae |
| Genus: | Alopecurus |
| Species: | A. myosuroides |
| Binomial name | |
| Alopecurus myosuroides | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
| |
It can grow up to 80 cm high, often growing in tufts. The leaves are hairless. Leaf sheath is smooth, green to purplish in colour. The leaf blade is pointed, 3 to 16 cm long and 2-8 millimeters wide, green, rough in texture.[2] The spikelets are cylindrical, yellow-green, pale green or purple in colour, and may be 1-12 centimeters long.[3]
It flowers from May to August.[4]
In the UK, where it is known to farmers as black-grass, it is a major weed of cereal crops as it produces a large amount of seed which is shed before the crop is cut. It has developed resistance to a range of herbicides used to control it. Herbicide resistance testing is often needed to understand what herbicides will be effective at treating it.[5] It can occur at very high densities, competing with the crop and seriously reducing the yield of crops such as wheat and barley if not controlled.
The seeds have a short period of dormancy and viability, and the numbers may be reduced by surface cultivation after harvest.
- "The Plant List". theplantlist.org. Retrieved 2021-04-29.
- Riches, Charles (November 19, 2019). "Alopecurus myosuroides (black-grass)". CABI Invasive Species Compendium. Archived from the original on 2016-07-16. Retrieved April 29, 2021.
- Naylor, Robert E. L. (1972). "Alopecurus Myosuroides Huds. (A. Agrestis L.)". Journal of Ecology. 60 (2): 611–622. doi:10.2307/2258364. ISSN 0022-0477. JSTOR 2258364.
- Grasses by C E Hubbard, 1978, published by Penguin Books
- Burgos, Nilda R.; Tranel, Patrick J.; Streibig, Jens C.; Davis, Vince M.; Shaner, Dale; Norsworthy, Jason K.; Ritz, Christian (March 2013). "Review: Confirmation of Resistance to Herbicides and Evaluation of Resistance Levels". Weed Science. 61 (1): 4–20. doi:10.1614/WS-D-12-00032.1.