Black Grass

In Great Britain and/or Ireland:
Foodplant / parasite
Blumeria graminis parasitises live Alopecurus myosuroides

Foodplant / gall
stroma of Epichlo causes gall of stem of Alopecurus myosuroides
Remarks: Other: uncertain

Foodplant / pathogen
immersed, often in rows between veins pycnidium of Dilophospora coelomycetous anamorph of Lidophia graminis infects and damages live leaf of Alopecurus myosuroides
Remarks: season: 5-10, esp. 7

Foodplant / spot causer
colony of Mastigosporium anamorph of Mastigosporium album causes spots on leaf of Alopecurus myosuroides

Rare in Taiwan and probably introduced.

Slender Fox-tail is a useful fodder grass in alpine pastures, but can become a serious pest of wheat and rye. It is difficult to eradicate, but may be considerably reduced by allowing fields to lie fallow for two years.

300-1500 m.

This species is adventive or introduced as a fodder grass in North America, Australia, and other temperate regions.

Culm up to 45 cm tall, about 2 mm in diameter. Blade 3 mm wide; ligule 2 mm long. Panicle sylindrical, contracted, up to 8 cm long. Spikelets 1-flowered, oblong, 4-5 mm long, flattened, falling entirel at maturity; glumes connate at the base, slightly shorter than the spikelet, membranous, fused at the basal part, 5-nerved, awned from the back, below the middle, awn protruding; palea absent; anther 2 mm long. Caryopsis enclosed in the lemma, 2.5 mm long, oblong; embryo less than 1/3 the length of the caryopsis. Lodicules reduced.

Annual; culms-20-85 cm high, erect or geniculately ascending. Leaf-blades 3-16 cm long, 2-9 mm wide, glabrous; upper sheaths slightly inflated; ligule 2-5 mm long, obtuse. Panicle 25-10(-12) cm long, 4-7 mm wide, tapering towards the tip. Spikelets 4.5-7.5 mm long; glumes acute, convergent at the tips, connate for a third to half their length, narrowly winged on the keel, minutely hairy there and on the nerves near the base; lemma as long as or slightly longer than the glumes, acute, the margins connate for a third to half their length; awn exceeding the tip of the lemma by 4-8 mm; anthers 3-4 mm long.

Annual, tufted. Culms erect or geniculately ascending, up to 80 cm tall. Leaf sheaths smooth, glabrous, upper sheaths slightly inflated; leaf blades 3–16 cm, 2–9 mm wide, glabrous, abaxial surface smooth or scabrid, adaxial surface scabrid; ligule 2–5 mm. Panicle narrowly cylindrical, up to 10 cm, tapering toward apex, yellow-green, pale green, or purplish. Spikelets narrowly oblong, 4.5–7.5 mm; glumes leathery, punctate-scabrid, keels narrowly winged, wings shortly pilose below, scabrid above, lateral veins very shortly pilose near base, margins connate in lower 1/3–1/2, apices acute; lemma slightly longer than glumes, margins connate in lower 1/3–1/2, awned from near base, apex acute; awn exserted 4–8 mm from spikelet, geniculate. Anthers pale yellow, 2.5–4 mm. 2n = 14.

Distribution: Pakistan (Baluchistan, N.W.F.P. & Kashmir); Europe and temperate Asia; introduced in North America and other temperate regions

Distsributed in temperate parts of Europe and Asia.

Fl. & Fr. Per.: March-April.

Fields, introduced. Taiwan (Taipei) [Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan; SW Asia, Europe].

Alopecurus agrestis Linnaeus.

Alopecurus agrostis L. Sp. Pl. ed. 2. 1: 89/ 1762; Hayata, Icon. Pl. Form. 7: 82. 1918; Honda, Monogr. Poac. Jap. 202. 1930.

Alopecurus myosuroides Huds. Fl. Angl. 23. 1762
Alopecurus agrestis L. Sp. PI. ed. 2. 1: 89. 1762. (Type from Europe.)
Tozzettia agrestis Bubani, Fl. Pyren. 4: 274. 1901. (Based on Alopecurus agrestis L.)
Perennial; culms tufted, erect or decumbent at base, slightly scabrous, 10-50 cm. tall; sheaths glabrous; ligule erose-truncate, 2-3 mm. long; blades flat, glabrous, gradually acuminate, 5-15 cm. long, 2-3 mm. wide; panicles slender, somewhat tapering at each end, 4-10 cm. long, 3-5 mm. wide; glumes 6 mm. long, pointed, whitish with 3 green nerves, glabrous,
scabrous on the keel, short-ciliate at base, lemma about as long as the glumes, the awn bent,
exserted 5-8 mm.
Type locality: England.
Distribution: Fields, waste places, and ballast ground, Maine to North Carolina; Washington and Oregon; introduced, rare; native of Eurasia.

Perennials, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems erect or ascending, Stems geniculate, decumbent, or lax, sometimes rooting at nodes, Stems caespitose, tufted, or clustered, Stems terete, round in cross section, or polygonal, Stem internodes hollow, Stem s with inflorescence less than 1 m tall, Stems, culms, or scapes exceeding basal leaves, Leaves mostly cauline, Leaves conspicuously 2-ranked, distichous, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf sheath mostly open, or loose, Leaf sheath smooth, glabrous, Leaf sheath and blade differentiated, Leaf blades linear, Leaf blades 2-10 mm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, Ligule present, Ligule an unfringed eciliate membrane, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence a dense slender spike-like panicle or raceme, branches contracted, Inflorescence solitary, with 1 spike, fascicle, glomerule, head, or cluster per stem or culm, Inflorescence spike linear or cylindric, several times longer than wide, Inflorescence single raceme, fascicle or spike, Flowers bisexual, Spikelets pedicellate, Spikelets laterally compressed, Spikelet less than 3 mm wide, Spikelets with 1 fertile floret, Spikelets solitary at rachis nodes, Spikelets all alike and fertille, Spikelets bisexual, Spikelets disarticulating below the glumes, Rachilla or pedicel glabrous, Glumes present, empty bracts, Glumes 2 clearly present, Glumes equal or subequal, Glumes equal to or longer than adjacent lemma, Glume margins connate at base, Glumes keeled or winged, Glumes 3 nerved, Lemmas thin, chartaceous, hyaline, cartilaginous, or membranous, Lemma margins connate below, Lemma 5-7 nerved, Lemma glabrous, Lemma body or surface hairy, Lemma apex truncate, rounded, or obtuse, Lemma mucronate, very shortly beaked or awned, less than 1-2 mm, Lemma distinctly awned, more than 2-3 mm, Lemma with 1 awn, Lemma awn less than 1 cm long, Lemma awn 1-2 cm long, Lemma awn subapical or dorsal, Lemma awns straight or curved to base, Lemma margins thin, lying flat, Lemma straight, Stamens 3, Styles 1, Styles 2-fid, deeply 2-branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis, Caryopsis ellipsoid, longitudinally grooved, hilum long-linear.

Alopecurus myosuroides is an annual grass, native to Eurasia, found in moist meadows, deciduous forests, and on cultivated and waste land. It is also known as slender meadow foxtail, black-grass, twitch grass, and black twitch.