Meadow foxtail

Meadow foxtail
	Meadow Foxtail ( Alopecurus pratensis )
Systematics
	Commelinids
Order :	Sweet grass (Poales)
Family :	Sweet grasses (Poaceae)
Subfamily :	Pooideae
Genre :	Foxtail grasses ( Alopecurus )
Type :	Meadow foxtail
Scientific name
	Alopecurus pratensis
	L.

The meadow foxtail ( Alopecurus pratensis ) is a species of foxtail grass ( Alopecurus ) in the sweet grass family . It is a perennial top grass with a high feed value . The meadow foxtail is regionally also called donkey grass, dog grass, rat tail, fox whale, hair puller or rye grass.

description

The meadow foxtail is a persistent grass that grows in loose or dense clumps . It reaches heights of growth between 30 and 120, sometimes up to 150 centimeters. The stalks grow upright or kneeling from the base and ascending. The stalks are thin to moderately strong. They have noticeably few nodes , are smooth, green or whitish green. The leaf sheaths are smooth, cylindrical, split open. The lower ones turn dark brown, the upper ones green or whitish-green and are somewhat puffed up. The hairless leaf blades are thinly pointed, later flat, green, rough or almost smooth. The lower ones reach 6 to 40 centimeters in length and 3 to 10 millimeters in width. The upper leaves are usually shorter. The entire, membranous ligule (ligulae) are somewhat truncated and up to 2.5 millimeters long.

Meadow Foxtail ( Alopecurus pratensis ), illustration on the left

The panicles of ears are very dense and cylindrical in outline, about 3 to 12 centimeters long and up to 10 millimeters wide. They are mostly cloudy green or sometimes purple. The spikelet stalks are very short and erect. The 5 millimeter long, flattened spikelets are oblong-elliptical and single-flowered. They fall off closed at maturity. The glumes are narrowly lanceolate and acuminate, three-veined and covered with thin hairs on the keels. The lemmas are the same length as the glumes and are ovate to elliptical, obtuse, keeled and four-veined. Furthermore, they are fused from the middle at the edges and awning on the back from the lower third. The awn protrudes from the glumes about 3 to 5 millimeters. One palea is missing. The anthers ( anthers ) are yellow or purple. The fruit ( caryopsis ) is enclosed by the lemma.

The meadow foxtail blooms between April and June or July. The fruit ripens between July and October.

The number of chromosomes is 2n = 28.

Occurrence

The meadow foxtail is widespread throughout Europe and North Asia to Mongolia, from the plains to the mountains. It also occurs in the Azores. In addition, it is a neophyte in numerous countries. The grass species, which is not native to all of Europe, was strongly promoted by meadow culture.

The meadow foxtail prefers to grow on soaky, cool and nutrient-rich, moderately acidic, humus-rich and deep soils. It is an indicator of moisture and nutrients and also tolerates partial shade. It is favored by fertilization of the site and irrigation. The grass grows mainly in fresh to moist grassland communities. It is the characteristic of the plant communities of the European meadows ( Molinio-Arrhenatheretea ). In addition, it grows in wet meadows (Calthion) and Hochstaudenfluren (Filipendulion).

Meadow Foxtail ( Alopecurus pratensis )

Panicle with yellow anthers

Panicle with purple anthers

Ligule

ecology

The meadow foxtail is a perennial clump plant with underground runners.

The flowers are pollinated by wind . The pre-female and self-sterile flowers belong to the "long-dust filament type" and notably have no erectile tissue. The beginning of flowering of the meadow foxtail is considered by the German Weather Service as the beginning of hay fever in grass allergy sufferers.

The unit of distribution is the single-flowered spikelets known as husks. The glumes serve as a flying apparatus and they spread out as balloon fliers. As adherents, they also serve the chance and animal spread; in addition, humans also contribute to the spread. The plant is a light germ . Vegetative reproduction occurs through the up to 10 cm long runners .

The meadow foxtail is attacked by the rust fungi Puccinia perplexans with Uredien and Telien and Puccinia coronata var. Coronata . The occurrence of Puccinia perplexans seems to be climatic, but can be influenced by the cultivation, especially mulching .

Systematics and taxonomy

The scientific name Alopecurus pratensis was first published in 1753 by Carl von Linné in Species Plantarum .

One can distinguish the following subspecies:

Alopecurus pratensis subsp. alpestris (Wahlenb.) Selander : It occurs in Northern Europe and Northeastern Europe.
Alopecurus pratensis subsp. laguriformis (Schur) Tzvelev : It occurs in the southern and eastern Carpathians.
Alopecurus pratensis subsp. pratensis : It occurs in the Azores and from Europe to Mongolia.

use

Agriculture

The meadow foxtail is a high-yielding upper grass with a high forage value (pasture forage and hay) when cut early. It is nutritious and palatable to livestock. Upper grasses are tall grasses, rich in flowering and non-flowering stalks, which are supposed to suppress the other meadow plants under favorable conditions. They should bring the mass of meadow hay . These grasses are usually not suitable for permanent grazing.

medicine

According to a study by the University of Bochum, the meadow foxtail has a protective effect on the development of allergies - at least in young mice. The researchers found that the meadow foxtail contains the polysaccharide arabinogalactan (see also pectins ), which stimulates the dendritic cells of the immune system to produce interleukin-10. Regularly administered intranasally, IL-10 dampens the immune system and prevents an excessive reaction, but without impairing the defense against bacteria and viruses.

Ornamental plant

A cultivar with yellow / green striped leaves, Aureovariegatus , is used as an ornamental plant in gardens.

Common names

Other names for the meadow foxtail, some of which are only used regionally, are or were: Fosswans ( Göttingen ), Fuchsschwanz ( Silesia ), Fuchswedel ( Memmingen ), Röttesteert ( East Friesland ), Tamgras (North Dithmarschen ), Taubbarste (Silesia) and Vossensteert ( Low German ).

literature

Erich Oberdorfer : Plant-sociological excursion flora . With the collaboration of Theo Müller. 7th, revised and expanded edition. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart (Hohenheim) 1994, ISBN 3-8252-1828-7 .
Henning Haeupler, Thomas Muer: picture atlas of the fern and flowering plants of Germany . Ed .: Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (= The fern and flowering plants of Germany . Volume 2 ). Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart (Hohenheim) 2000, ISBN 3-8001-3364-4 .
Charles Edward Hubbard: Grasses. Description, distribution, use (= UTB . Volume 233 ). 2nd, revised and expanded edition. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart (Hohenheim) 1985, ISBN 3-8001-2537-4 (English: Grasses . Translated by Peter Boeker).
E. Klapp, WO v. Boberfeld: Pocket book of grasses. Recognition, determination, location and socialization, evaluation and use. Paul Parey, Berlin / Hamburg 1990, ISBN 3-489-72710-X .

Individual evidence

^ Erich Oberdorfer : Plant-sociological excursion flora for Germany and neighboring areas . 8th edition. Verlag Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-8001-3131-5 . Page 258.

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Rafaël Govaerts (Ed.): Alopecurus pratensis. In: World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP) - The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved November 8, 2016.

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d Ruprecht Düll , Herfried Kutzelnigg : Pocket dictionary of plants in Germany and neighboring countries. The most common Central European species in portrait . 7th, corrected and enlarged edition. Quelle & Meyer, Wiebelsheim 2011, ISBN 978-3-494-01424-1 , p. 76 .

↑ Peter Zwetko: The rust mushrooms Austria. Supplement and host-parasite directory to the 2nd edition of the Catalogus Florae Austriae, III. Part, Book 1, Uredinales. (PDF file; 1.8 MB).

↑ B. Voženílková, J. Marková, F. Klimeš, J. Květ, Z. Mašková: The influence of mountain meadow management on the occurrence of Puccinia perplexans Plow. - The influence of mountain meadow management on the occurrence of Puccinia perplexans Plow. In: Journal of Plant Diseases and Protection. Volume 115, 2008, pp. 167-171 (PDF file). ( Memento of the original from May 5, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2
↑ Carl von Linné: Species Plantarum. Volume 1, Lars Salvius, Stockholm 1753, p. 60 ( digitized version ).
↑ Marcus Peters, Marion Kauth, Olaf Scherner, Kirsten Gehlhar, Imke Steffen, Pia Wentker, Erika von Mutius, Otto Holst, Albrecht Bufe: Arabinogalactan isolated from cowshed dust extract protects mice from allergic airway inflammation and sensitization. In: Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology . Volume 126, No. 3, 2010, pp. 648-656, doi: 10.1016 / j.jaci.2010.05.011 , PMID 20621350 .
↑ Alopecurus pratensis 'Aureovariegatus' on the Denver Botanic Gardens website
^ Georg August Pritzel , Carl Jessen : The German folk names of plants. New contribution to the German linguistic treasure. Philipp Cohen, Hannover 1882, p. 22, online.

Web links

Commons : Meadow Foxtail - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Meadow foxtail. In: FloraWeb.de.
Meadow foxtail . In: BiolFlor, the database of biological-ecological characteristics of the flora of Germany.
Profile and distribution map for Bavaria . In: Botanical Information Hub of Bavaria .
Alopecurus pratensis L. In: Info Flora , the national data and information center for Swiss flora .
Distribution in the northern hemisphere from: Eric Hultén, Magnus Fries: Atlas of North European vascular plants. 1986, ISBN 3-87429-263-0 at Den virtuella floran. (swed.)
Thomas Meyer: Data sheet with identification key and photos at Flora-de: Flora von Deutschland (old name of the website: Flowers in Swabia )

[Oberdorfer2001-1] Erich Oberdorfer : Plant-sociological excursion flora for Germany and neighboring areas . 8th edition. Verlag Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-8001-3131-5 . Page 258.

[WCSP-2] Rafaël Govaerts (Ed.): Alopecurus pratensis. In: World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP) - The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved November 8, 2016.

[Düll_2011-3] Ruprecht Düll , Herfried Kutzelnigg : Pocket dictionary of plants in Germany and neighboring countries. The most common Central European species in portrait . 7th, corrected and enlarged edition. Quelle & Meyer, Wiebelsheim 2011, ISBN 978-3-494-01424-1 , p. 76 .

[Zwetko-4] Peter Zwetko: The rust mushrooms Austria. Supplement and host-parasite directory to the 2nd edition of the Catalogus Florae Austriae, III. Part, Book 1, Uredinales. (PDF file; 1.8 MB).