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.