Alopecurus

Alopecurus, or foxtail grass, is a common and widespread genus of plants in the grass family. It is common across temperate and subtropical parts of Eurasia, northern Africa, and the Americas, as well as naturalized in Australia and on various islands.

Foxtails can be annual or perennial. They grow in tufts. They have flat leaves and blunt ligules (a small flap at the junction of leaf and stem). Their inflorescence is a dense panicle (a branching head without terminal flower) with 1-flowered spikelets. A few, particularly A. myosuroides, are considered weeds, others are very decorative and are used in bouquets of dried flowers.

1. Alopecurus aequalis – Orange foxtail, shortawn foxtail - Eurasia, Americas
2. Alopecurus albovii - Caucasus
3. Alopecurus anatolicus - eastern Turkey
4. Alopecurus apiatus - Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran
5. Alopecurus arundinaceus – Reed foxtail, creeping foxtail, creeping meadow foxtail - Eurasia, North Africa
6. Alopecurus aucheri - Caucasus, Turkey, Iran
7. Alopecurus baptarrhenius - Ethiopia
8. Alopecurus bonariensis - Argentina, Uruguay
9. Alopecurus borii - Turkmenistan
10. Alopecurus bornmuelleri - Palestine
11. Alopecurus brachystachus - Russia, China, Mongolia
12. Alopecurus bulbosus – Bulbous foxtail - Mediterranean, western Europe
13. Alopecurus carolinianus – tufted meadow foxtail - USA, western Canada
14. Alopecurus creticus - Greece, Turkey, Balkans
15. Alopecurus dasyanthus - Caucasus, Iran
16. Alopecurus davisii - Samos Island in Greece
17. Alopecurus geniculatus – Bent foxtail, marsh meadow foxtail - Algeria, Eurasia
18. Alopecurus gerardii - Mediterranean
19. Alopecurus glacialis - Caucasus, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan
20. Alopecurus × haussknechtianus - central + northwestern Europe
21. Alopecurus heliochloides - Chile
22. Alopecurus himalaicus - Himalayas, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Central Asia, Xinjiang
23. Alopecurus hitchcockii - Peru, Bolivia, Jujuy
24. Alopecurus japonicus - China, Japan, Korea
25. Alopecurus laguroides - Caucasus, Turkey
26. Alopecurus lanatus - Turkey
27. Alopecurus longiaristatus - Heilongjiang, Primorye, Khabarovsk
28. Alopecurus magellanicus - northern Eurasia, North + South America, Falkland Is, South Georgia
29. Alopecurus × marssonii - Ukraine
30. Alopecurus mucronatus - Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan
31. Alopecurus myosuroides – Slender meadow foxtail, black grass, twitch grass, black twitch - Eurasia, North Africa
32. Alopecurus nepalensis - Himalayas, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan
33. Alopecurus × plettkei - France, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands
34. Alopecurus ponticus - Caucasus
35. Alopecurus pratensis – meadow foxtail - Eurasia from Azores to Mongolia
36. Alopecurus rendlei - central + southern Europe, Algeria, Libya, Turkey
37. Alopecurus saccatus – Pacific foxtail - United States (WA OR ID CA), Baja California
38. Alopecurus setarioides - France, Greece, Italy, Balkans, Turkey
39. Alopecurus textilis - Turkey, Caucasus, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Turkmenistan
40. Alopecurus turczaninovii - Siberia
41. Alopecurus × turicensis - France, Switzerland
42. Alopecurus utriculatus - Greece, Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine
43. Alopecurus vaginatus - Crimea, Caucasus, Turkey, Middle East, Iran, Afghanistan
44. Alopecurus × winklerianus - France, Switzerland, Germany, Poland

Numerous species once considered part of Alopecurus but now regarded as better suited to other genera: Agrostis Chaetopogon Cornucopiae Crypsis Koeleria Milium Muhlenbergia Pennisetum Perotis Phleum Polypogon Rostraria Setaria Tribolium