Alopecurus myosuroides
Alopecurus myosuroides | |
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Blackgrass in a barley crop | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Monocots |
Clade: | Commelinids |
Order: | Poales |
Family: | Poaceae |
Subfamily: | Pooideae |
Genus: | Alopecurus |
Species: | A. myosuroides
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Binomial name | |
Alopecurus myosuroides | |
Synonyms[1] | |
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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.
Description[]
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]
Weed status[]
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.
References[]
- ^ "The Plant List". theplantlist.org. Retrieved 2021-04-29.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Riches, Charles (November 19, 2019). "Alopecurus myosuroides (black-grass)". CABI Invasive Species Compendium. 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.
- ^ Grasses by C E Hubbard, 1978, published by Penguin Books
- ^ "Herbicide resistance testing - ADAS". www.adas.uk. Retrieved 2019-06-18.
- Alopecurus
- Flora of Europe
- Flora of Asia
- Flora of Africa