Fox Tail Prickle Grass

Heleochloa alopecuroides (Pill. & Mitterp.) Host, Gram Austr. 1: 23. 1801.
Phleum alopecuroides Pill. & Mitterp. Iter Poseg. 147. 1783.
Crypsis alopecuroides Schrad. Fl. Germ. 1: 167. 1806. (Based on Heleochloa alopecuroides Host.)
Culms tufted, about 2-noded, branching at base, mostly unbranched above, erect or stiffly spreading, or prostrate, glabrous, as much as 40 cm. tall; sheaths glabrous, not inflated or only slightly so; ligule ciliate, about 1 mm. long; blades flat, acuminate, scabrous and sometimes sparsely pilose on the upper surface, as much as 10 cm. long, usually shorter, 2-4 mm. wide; panicles dense, cylindric, pale or olive, exserted from the uppermost sheath, 2-6 cm. long, 4-5 mm. thick; spikelets about 2 mm. long; glumes ciliate on the keel; lemma longer than the glumes.
Type locality: Europe.
Distribution: Ballast, near Philadelphia; waste places and ballast, near Portland, Oregon; ntroduced from southern Europe.

Annuals, 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 cl ustered, Stems terete, round in cross section, or polygonal, Stems branching above base or distally at nodes, Stem internodes solid or spongy, Stem internodes hollow, Stems 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 very narrow or filiform, less than 2 mm wide, Leaf blades 2-10 mm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, Leaf blade margins folded, involute, or conduplicate, Leaf blades more or less hairy, Ligule present, Ligule a fringed, ciliate, or lobed membrane, Ligule a fringe of hairs, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence a contracted panicle, narrowly paniculate, branches appressed or ascending, Inflorescence a dense slender spike-like panicle or raceme, branches contracted, Inflorescence solitary, with 1 sp ike, fascicle, glomerule, head, or cluster per stem or culm, Inflorescence branches more than 10 to numerous, Flowers bisexual, Spikelets pedicellate, Spikelets sessile or subsessile, 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 above the glumes, glumes persistent, 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, Glumes keeled or winged, Glumes 1 nerved, Lemmas thin, chartaceous, hyaline, cartilaginous, or membranous, Lemma 1 nerved, Lemma glabrous, Lemma apex truncate, rounded, or obtuse, Lemma awnless, Lemma margins thin, lying flat, Lemma straight, Palea present, well developed, Palea shorter than lemma, Palea longer than lemma, Palea 2 nerved or 2 keeled, S tamens 3, Styles 2-fid, deeply 2-branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis.

Crypsis alopecuroides is a species of grass known by the common name foxtail pricklegrass. It is native to Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. It is also known in the western United States as a common and widespread introduced species, especially in sandy areas around water, such as lakesides. It has also been collected at shipping points near Philadelphia but has not been seen there in about a century. This is an annual grass producing mostly upright and unbranching stems, often dark in color, up to about 75 centimeters in maximum height. The green leaves are up to 12 centimeters long, sometimes waxy in texture. The inflorescence is a dense cylindrical panicle of tiny green to purple spikelets.