Alopecurus
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(Alopecurus pratensis) <ref>illustration from Thomé, Flora von Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz 1885</ref>
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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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.
Species
43 species are accepted.<ref name = powo/>
- Alopecurus aequalis Template:Small – Orange foxtail, shortawn foxtail – Eurasia, Americas
- Alopecurus albovii Template:Small – Caucasus
- Alopecurus alopecuroides Template:Small – Syria and Israel
- Alopecurus anatolicus Template:Small – eastern Turkey
- Alopecurus apiatus Template:Small – Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran
- Alopecurus arundinaceus Template:Small – Reed foxtail, creeping foxtail, creeping meadow foxtail – Eurasia, North Africa
- Alopecurus aucheri Template:Small – Caucasus, Turkey, Iran
- Alopecurus baptarrhenius Template:Small – Ethiopia
- Alopecurus bonariensis Template:Small – Argentina, Uruguay
- Alopecurus borii Template:Small – Turkmenistan
- Alopecurus bornmuelleri Template:Small – Palestine
- Alopecurus brachystachus Template:Small – Russia, China, Mongolia
- Alopecurus × brachystylus Template:Small – western and northern Europe and Siberia
- Alopecurus bulbosus Template:Small – Bulbous foxtail – Mediterranean, western Europe
- Alopecurus carolinianus Template:Small – tufted meadow foxtail – US, western Canada
- Alopecurus creticus Template:Small – Greece, Turkey, Balkans
- Alopecurus cucullatus Template:Small – central and eastern Mediterranean
- Alopecurus dasyanthus Template:Small – Caucasus, Iran
- Alopecurus davisii Template:Small – Samos Island in Greece
- Alopecurus geniculatus Template:Small – Bent foxtail, marsh meadow foxtail – Algeria, Eurasia
- Alopecurus gerardii Template:Small – Mediterranean
- Alopecurus goekyigitianus Template:Small – Turkey
- Alopecurus glacialis Template:Small – Caucasus, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan
- Alopecurus × haussknechtianus Template:Small – central + northwestern Europe
- Alopecurus heliochloides Template:Small – Chile
- Alopecurus himalaicus Template:Small – Himalayas, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Central Asia, Xinjiang
- Alopecurus hitchcockii Template:Small – Peru, Bolivia, Jujuy
- Alopecurus japonicus Template:Small – China, Japan, Korea
- Alopecurus laguroides Template:Small – Caucasus, Turkey
- Alopecurus lanatus Template:Small – Turkey
- Alopecurus longiaristatus Template:Small – Heilongjiang, Primorye, Khabarovsk
- Alopecurus magellanicus Template:Small – northern Eurasia, North + South America, Falkland Is, South Georgia
- Alopecurus × marssonii Template:Small – Ukraine
- Alopecurus mucronatus Template:Small – Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan
- Alopecurus myosuroides Template:Small – Slender meadow foxtail, black grass, twitch grass, black twitch – Eurasia, North Africa
- Alopecurus nepalensis Template:Small – Himalayas, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan
- Alopecurus × plettkei Template:Small – France, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands
- Alopecurus ponticus Template:Small – Caucasus
- Alopecurus pratensis Template:Small – meadow foxtail – Eurasia from Azores to Mongolia
- Alopecurus rendlei Template:Small – central + southern Europe, Algeria, Libya, Turkey
- Alopecurus saccatus Template:Small – Pacific foxtail – United States (WA OR ID CA), Baja California
- Alopecurus setarioides Template:Small – France, Greece, Italy, Balkans, Turkey
- Alopecurus textilis Template:Small – Turkey, Caucasus, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Turkmenistan
- Alopecurus turczaninovii Template:Small – Siberia
- Alopecurus × turicensis Template:Small – France, Switzerland
- Alopecurus tzvelevii Template:Small – central European Russia
- Alopecurus utriculatus Template:Small – Greece, Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine
- Alopecurus vaginatus Template:Small – Crimea, Caucasus, Turkey, Middle East, Iran, Afghanistan
- Alopecurus × winklerianus Template:Small – France, Switzerland, Germany, Poland
Formerly included
Numerous species once considered part of Alopecurus but now regarded as better suited to other genera: Agrostis, Crypsis, Koeleria, Milium, Muhlenbergia, Pennisetum, Perotis, Phleum, Polypogon, Rostraria, Setaria and Tribolium.<ref name=h>Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families</ref>