2. Alopecurus carolinianus Walter (common foxtail, Carolina foxtail)

Pl. 131 d–f; Map 532

Plants annual. Flowering stems 5–60 cm long, erect or ascending, rarely from spreading bases, usually not rooting at the lower nodes. Leaf sheaths with the ligules 1.5–5.0 mm long. Leaf blades 1–10 cm long, 1–4 mm wide. Inflorescences 1–5 cm long, 3–5 mm wide. Glumes 1.5–2.4 mm long, rounded to bluntly pointed at the tip, the midnerve (keel) and usually also the lateral nerves and basal portion hairy. Awn 2.5–5.0 mm long (extended 1–4 mm past the glumes), attached toward the base of the lemma midnerve, twisted or bent abruptly near the midpoint. Anthers 0.2–0.7 mm long. Fruits 1.0–1.4 mm long. 2n=14. April–August.

Scattered nearly throughout the state (U.S., Canada, Alaska). Moist depressions of glades and margins of ponds and sloughs; also pastures, fallow fields, ditches, roadsides, and moist, disturbed areas, sometimes emergent aquatics.