Alopecurus pratensis

Details Top

Internal ID UUID64402e52aeaa6112784498
Scientific name Alopecurus pratensis
Authority L.
First published in Sp. Pl. : 60 (1753)

Ethnobotanical Use Top

Write a new one!
No ethnobotanical data added yet. Help us by writing one.

General Uses Top

Suggest a correction!

Common products:
Alopecurus pratensis is cultivated and harvested primarily as a high‑quality forage. The species forms a major component of hay, usually cut at the early heading stage, and is prized for its palatability, rapid regrowth, and suitability for short‑term ley systems. It is commonly included in pasture mixtures for cattle, horses, sheep and goats, often in association with legumes such as white clover (Trifolium repens) to improve nitrogen supply. Hay is baled and marketed under national hay‑grade standards, and the grass is used for both intensive rotational grazing and extensive pasture.

Properties relevant to use:
Early‑season growth and a high leaf‑to‑stem ratio combine with relatively low lignin (

Synonyms Top

Scientific name Authority First published in
Alopecurus alpestris Wahlenb. ex Steud. Nomencl. Bot. [Steudel], ed. 2. i. 61.
Alopecurus alpinus var. songaricus Schrenk ex Fisch. & C.A.Mey. Enum. Pl. Nov. 1: 1 (1841)
Alopecurus alpinus var. ventricosus Kar. & Kir. Bull. Soc. Imp. Naturalistes Moscou 14: 811. 1841
Alopecurus altissimus Schur Oesterr. Bot. Z. 9: 13 (1859)
Alopecurus arvensis Gromov ex Trautv. Trudy Imp. S.-Peterburgsk. Bot. Sada 9: 353 (1884)
Alopecurus brachyglossus Peterm. Fl. Lips. : 232 (1844)
Alopecurus candicans Salzm. ex Steud. Nomencl. Bot. , ed. 2, 1: 61 (1840)
Alopecurus caudicans Salzm. ex Ball J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 16: 707. 1878
Alopecurus lasiostachyus Link Hort. Berol. 1: 71 (1827)
Alopecurus laxiflorus Ovcz. Fl. URSS 2: 744 (1934)
Alopecurus obscurus Schur Oesterr. Bot. Z. 9: 13 (1859)
Alopecurus pallidus Dumort. Observ. Gramin. Belg. : 133 (1824)
Alopecurus phleiformis P.Beauv. Ess. Agrostogr. : 4 (1812)
Alopecurus pratensis f. brachyglossus (Peterm.) Şerb. & Nyár. Fl. Republ. Socialist. România 12: 117 (1972)
Alopecurus pratensis f. breviaristatus Beck Fl. Nieder-Österreich 1: 56 1890
Alopecurus pratensis f. glaucus (Sond.) Şerb. & Nyár. Fl. Republ. Socialist. România 12: 118 (1972)
Alopecurus pratensis f. obscurus (Griseb.) Şerb. & Nyár. Fl. Republ. Socialist. România 12: 117 (1972)
Alopecurus pratensis f. scaber (Opiz) Soó Acta Bot. Acad. Sci. Hung. 17: 123 (1971 publ. 1972)
Alopecurus pratensis var. glaucus Sond. Fl. Hamburg. 32 1851
Alopecurus pratensis var. obscurus Ledeb. Fl. Ross. 4: 463 1852
Alopecurus pratensis var. soongaricus Roshev. Fl. Asiat. Ross. 2(4): 213. 1924
Alopecurus pronus Mitt. ex Hook.f. Student. Fl. Brit. Isl. : 428 (1870)
Alopecurus scaber Opiz Naturalientausch 9: 166 (1825)
Alopecurus seravschanicus Ovcz. Fl. URSS 2: 745 (1934)
Alopecurus soongaricus Petrov Fl. Iakut. 1: 1147 (1930)
Alopecurus tauntoniensis G.Sinclair Hort. Gram. Woburn. , ed. 2: 49, 232 (1825)
Alopecurus trivialis Seidl ex Opiz Naturalientausch 9: 116 (1825)
Alopecurus villosus Gilib. Excerc. Phyt. 2: 517 (1792)
Phalaris aristata Schousb. ex Willd. Neue Schriften Ges. Naturf. Freunde Berlin 3: 413 (1801)
Tozzettia pratensis Savi Mem. Mat. Fis. Soc. Ital. Sci. 8: 477 (1798)
Tozzettia vulgaris Bubani Fl. Pyren. 4: 276 (1901)
Alopecurus pratensis subsp. songaricus (Fisch. & C.A.Mey.) N.V.Vlassova Konspekt Fl. Sibir. Sosud. Rast. : 286 (2005)
Alopecurus eu-pratensis var. obscurus (Griseb.) Asch. & Graebn. Syn. Mitteleur. Fl. 2: 132 1899
Alopecurus sericeus Gaertn. Fruct. Sem. Pl. i. 2. t. 1. f. 2.

Common names Top

Add a new one! Suggest a correction!

Language Common/alternative name
English meadow foxtail
Arabic ثعلبية المروج
Azerbaijani Çəmən tülküquyruğu
Bulgarian ливадна лисича опашка
Catalan cua de guilla
Catalan cua de rabosa
Czech psárka luční
Welsh cynffonwellt y maes
German wiesen-fuchsschwanz
German wiesenfuchsschwanz
German wiesen-fuchsschwanzgras
Esperanto pratalopekuro
Estonian aas-rebasesaba
Finnish nurmipuntarpää
French vulpin des prés
Upper Sorbian Łučny liščak
Hungarian réti ecsetpázsit
Icelandic háliðagras
Kabyle tidqacest
Cornish lostwelsen an mes
Lithuanian pievinis pašiaušėlis
Latvian pļavas lapsaste
Norwegian Bokmål engrevehale
Dutch grote vossenstaart
Dutch beemdvossenstaart
Dutch grote vossestaart
Polish wyczyniec łąkowy
Romanian coada vulpii
Romanian coada-vulpii
Russian лисохвост луговой
Serbian Лисичји реп
Swedish Ängskavle
Turkish Çayır tilkikuyruğu
Ukrainian китник лучний
Chinese 原野看麥娘
Chinese 大看麦娘
Chinese 大看麥娘
Chinese 狐尾草
Chinese 草原看麦娘

Subspecies (abbr. subsp./ssp.) Top

Add a new one! Suggest a correction!
Name Authority First published in
Alopecurus pratensis subsp. alpestris (Wahlenb.) Selander Acta Phytogeogr. Suec. 28: 33 (1950)
Alopecurus pratensis subsp. laguriformis (Schur) Tzvelev Novosti Sist. Vyssh. Rast. 8: 19 (1971)
Alopecurus pratensis subsp. pratensis Unknown

Varieties (abbr. var.) Top

Add a new one! Suggest a correction!
Name Authority First published in
Alopecurus pratensis var. aquaticus (Dumort.) Mathieu Fl. Gen. Belgique, Spermatoph. 1: 590 1853

Subvarieties (abbr. subvar.) Top

Add a new one! Suggest a correction!
No subvariety added yet.

Forms (abbr. f.) Top

Add a new one! Suggest a correction!
No forms added yet.

Germination/Propagation Top

Suggest a correction or add new data!
No germination or propagation data was added yet.

Distribution (via POWO/KEW) Top

Legend for the distribution data:
- Doubtful data
- Extinct
- Introduced
- Native
  • Asia-temperate
    • Caucasus
      • North Caucasus
    • China
      • Inner Mongolia
      • Manchuria
      • Xinjiang
    • Eastern Asia
      • Japan
      • Korea
      • Taiwan
    • Middle Asia
      • Kazakhstan
      • Kirgizstan
      • Tadzhikistan
      • Turkmenistan
      • Uzbekistan
    • Mongolia
      • Mongolia
    • Russian Far East
      • Amur
      • Kamchatka
      • Khabarovsk
      • Magadan
      • Primorye
      • Sakhalin
    • Siberia
      • Altay
      • Buryatiya
      • Chita
      • Irkutsk
      • Krasnoyarsk
      • Tuva
      • West Siberia
      • Yakutskiya
    • Western Asia
      • Afghanistan
      • Cyprus
      • Iran
  • Australasia
    • Australia
      • New South Wales
      • South Australia
      • Tasmania
      • Victoria
      • Western Australia
    • New Zealand
      • New Zealand North
      • New Zealand South
  • Europe
    • Eastern Europe
      • Baltic States
      • Belarus
      • Central European Russia
      • East European Russia
      • Krym
      • North European Russia
      • Northwest European Russia
      • South European Russia
      • Ukraine
    • Middle Europe
      • Austria
      • Belgium
      • Czechoslovakia
      • Germany
      • Hungary
      • Netherlands
      • Poland
      • Switzerland
    • Northern Europe
      • Denmark
      • Finland
      • Føroyar
      • Great Britain
      • Iceland
      • Ireland
      • Norway
      • Sweden
    • Southeastern Europe
      • Albania
      • Bulgaria
      • Greece
      • Italy
      • Romania
      • Sicilia
      • Turkey-in-Europe
      • Yugoslavia
    • Southwestern Europe
      • Corse
      • France
      • Sardegna
      • Spain
  • Northern America
    • Eastern Canada
      • Labrador
      • New Brunswick
      • Newfoundland
      • Nova Scotia
      • Ontario
      • Prince Edward Island
      • Québec
    • North-central U.S.A.
      • Illinois
      • Iowa
      • Kansas
      • Minnesota
      • Missouri
      • Nebraska
      • North Dakota
      • South Dakota
      • Wisconsin
    • Northeastern U.S.A.
      • Connecticut
      • Indiana
      • Maine
      • Massachusetts
      • Michigan
      • New Hampshire
      • New Jersey
      • New York
      • Ohio
      • Pennsylvania
      • Rhode Island
      • Vermont
      • West Virginia
    • Northwestern U.S.A.
      • Colorado
      • Idaho
      • Montana
      • Oregon
      • Washington
      • Wyoming
    • South-central U.S.A.
      • New Mexico
    • Southeastern U.S.A.
      • Alabama
      • Delaware
      • District Of Columbia
      • Georgia
      • Kentucky
      • Maryland
      • Tennessee
      • Virginia
    • Southwestern U.S.A.
      • California
      • Nevada
      • Utah
    • Subarctic America
      • Alaska
      • Greenland
      • Northwest Territorie
      • Yukon
    • Western Canada
      • Alberta
      • British Columbia
      • Manitoba
      • Saskatchewan
  • Southern America
    • Caribbean
      • Bermuda
    • Southern South America
      • Argentina Northeast
      • Argentina South
      • Chile South
    • Western South America
      • Colombia

Links to other databases Top

Suggest others/fix!
Database ID/link to page
World Flora Online wfo-0000845656
UNII T306U9V415
Canadensys 7395
USDA Plants ALPR3
Tropicos 25504391
INPN 81656
KEW urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:387176-1
The Plant List kew-391506
Plantarium 2357
Open Tree Of Life 463754
Observations.org 6364
NCBI Taxonomy 15304
NBN Atlas NBNSYS0000002656
Nature Serve 2.156995
IPNI 387176-1
iNaturalist 71141
GBIF 5290081
Freebase /m/01shbh
WisFlora 2491
EPPO ALOPR
EOL 1114189
Elurikkus 2703
Calflora (Californian flora) 262
USDA GRIN 2651
Wikipedia Alopecurus_pratensis

Genomes (via NCBI) Top

No reference genome is available on NCBI yet. We are constantly monitoring for new data.

Scientific Literature Top

Below are displayed the latest 15 articles published in PMC (PubMed Central®) and other sources (DOI number only)!
If you wish to see all the related articles click here.
Title Authors Publication Released IDs
Co-located ecological data for exploring top- and subsoil carbon dynamics across grassland-woodland contrasts Reinsch S, Lebron I, Brentegani M, Brooks M, Busi SB, Cagnarini C, Cooper D, Day J, Emmett BA, Fitos E, Goodall T, Griffiths R, Jones B, Keenan P, Keith A, Lopes-Mazzetto JM, Mason KE, Pallett D, Pereira MG, Pinder A, Robinson DA, Smart SM, Thomas A, Benham S, Vanguelova E, Cosby BJ Sci Data 09-May-2024
PMCID:PMC11081944
doi:10.1038/s41597-024-03333-w
PMID:38724554
Hybridization in the Subtribe Alopecurinae Dumort. (Poaceae) According to Molecular Phylogenetic Analysis: Different Ploidy Level Tells Different Origin of the Groups Gnutikov AA, Nosov NN, Punina EO, Loskutov IG, Shneyer VS, Chekrygin SA, Rodionov AV Plants (Basel) 22-Mar-2024
PMCID:PMC11013341
doi:10.3390/plants13070919
PMID:38611448
Water table depth and plant species determine the direction and magnitude of methane fluxes in floodplain meadow soils Peacock M, Lawson C, Gowing D, Gauci V Ecol Evol 10-Mar-2024
PMCID:PMC10925825
doi:10.1002/ece3.11147
PMID:38469053
Extreme environments simplify reassembly of communities of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi Šibanc N, Clark DR, Helgason T, Dumbrell AJ, Maček I mSystems 20-Feb-2024
PMCID:PMC10949450
doi:10.1128/msystems.01331-23
PMID:38376262
The invasive legume Lupinus polyphyllus has minor site‐specific impacts on the composition of soil bacterial communities Mousavi SA, Ramula S Ecol Evol 13-Feb-2024
PMCID:PMC10864723
doi:10.1002/ece3.11030
PMID:38357596
Plant–plant interactions vary greatly along a flooding gradient in a dam-induced riparian habitat Ying L, Yanfeng W, Wenzhou W, Zhi D, Maohua M, Ping H, Shengjun W, Yanjing L Front Plant Sci 24-Nov-2023
PMCID:PMC10704245
doi:10.3389/fpls.2023.1290776
PMID:38078102
Plant traits associated with seed dispersal by ducks and geese in urban and natural habitats Tóth P, Green AJ, Wilkinson DM, Brides K, Lovas‐Kiss Á Ecol Evol 22-Nov-2023
PMCID:PMC10663722
doi:10.1002/ece3.10677
PMID:38020707
The Distribution Characteristics of Vegetation in the Subrange of the Altai Mountains, Xinjiang Cao Q, Wei Y, Li W, Feng Y, Abduraimov OS Plants (Basel) 20-Nov-2023
PMCID:PMC10675357
doi:10.3390/plants12223915
PMID:38005812
LandS: Vegetation modeling based on Ellenberg's ecological indicator values Rumohr Q, Grimm V, Lennartz G, Schäffer A, Toschki A, Roß-Nickoll M, Hudjetz S MethodsX 13-Nov-2023
PMCID:PMC10709510
doi:10.1016/j.mex.2023.102486
PMID:38076710
Relationships between species richness and biomass production are context dependent in grasslands differing in land-use and seed addition Andraczek K, Weigelt A, Cantuarias CJ, Fischer M, Hinderling J, Prati D, Rauwolf EM, van der Plas F Sci Rep 11-Nov-2023
PMCID:PMC10640580
doi:10.1038/s41598-023-47020-z
PMID:37952061
Fostering in situ conservation of wild relatives of forage crops Kägi C, Petitpierre B, Meyer P, Lötscher Y, Eggenberg S, Aubry S Front Plant Sci 30-Oct-2023
PMCID:PMC10643147
doi:10.3389/fpls.2023.1287430
PMID:38023832
Are Plant–Soil Feedbacks Caused by Many Weak Microbial Interactions? Aaronson JK, Kulmatiski A, Forero LE, Grenzer J, Norton JM Biology (Basel) 27-Oct-2023
PMCID:PMC10669423
doi:10.3390/biology12111374
PMID:37997973
An annotated nomenclatural checklist of endemic vascular plants distributed in the Ukrainian Carpathians Novikov A Biodivers Data J 11-Aug-2023
PMCID:PMC10848708
doi:10.3897/BDJ.11.e103921
PMID:38327305
Diet composition of wild columbiform birds: next-generation sequencing of plant and metazoan DNA in faecal samples Schumm YR, Masello JF, Vreugdenhil-Rowlands J, Fischer D, Hillerich K, Quillfeldt P Naturwissenschaften 22-Jul-2023
PMCID:PMC10363069
doi:10.1007/s00114-023-01863-8
PMID:37480393
Biomass removal promotes plant diversity after short-term de-intensification of managed grasslands Andraczek K, Weigelt A, Hinderling J, Kretz L, Prati D, van der Plas F PLoS One 29-Jun-2023
PMCID:PMC10310043
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0287039
PMID:37384725

Phytochemical Profile Top

Add a new one!
No natural compounds are linked yet. If you wish to help please use this tool.

Gallery Top

We don't have an image yet. Upload an image!

Contributors Top

No known contributors. Be the first!

Collections Top

In private collections 0
In public collections 0
You need to be authenticated in order to add this taxon to a personal collection.