Alopecurus myosuroides

(Redirected from Black-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 Edit this 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]
  • Alopecurus adonensis Dogan
  • Alopecurus affinis Desv.
  • Alopecurus agrestis L.
  • Alopecurus purpurascens Link
  • Phleum flavum Scop.
  • Tozzetia agrestis (L.)Bubani

Description

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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

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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

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  1. ^ "The Plant List". theplantlist.org. Retrieved 2021-04-29.
  2. ^ a b 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.
  3. ^ Naylor, Robert E. L. (1972). "Alopecurus Myosuroides Huds. (A. Agrestis L.)". Journal of Ecology. 60 (2): 611–622. Bibcode:1972JEcol..60..611N. doi:10.2307/2258364. ISSN 0022-0477. JSTOR 2258364.
  4. ^ Grasses by C E Hubbard, 1978, published by Penguin Books
  5. ^ 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.