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Alopecurus aequalis

Common name:	Shortawn Foxtail	Family:	Gramineae
Author:	Sobol.	Botanical references:	17
Synonyms:	Alopecurus fulvus (Sm.)
Known Hazards:	None known
Range:	Much of Europe, including Britain, to N. Asia.
Habitat:	Wet meadows and the edges of ponds and ditches[17].
Edibility Rating (1-5):	1	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	1

Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Orange Foxtail [L], Rosse Vossenstaart [D], Short-awn Meadow-foxtail [B], Shortawn Foxtail [P],
Epithets:	From a Dictionary of Botanical Epithets
	aequalis = equal alopecurus = fox tail
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Cyperales. Renamed to Poaceae -- Grass family
Other Range Info:	From the Ethnobotany Database
	China

Physical Characteristics

Annual/Perennial growing to 0.3m. . It is in flower from May to June. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Wind. We rate it 1/5 for edibility and 1/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade. It requires moist or wet soil.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Meadow, Bog Garden.

Edible Uses

Seed.

Seed - cooked. It can be used whole like millet, but is more usually ground into a flour and used with other cereals in making bread etc. The seed is small and fiddly, it is very much a famine food[177, K].

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

Antiphlogistic Depurative Diuretic.

The whole plant is antiphlogistic, depurative and diuretic[147]. It is used in the treatment of oedema, chickenpox and snakebites[147].

Other Uses

None known

Cultivation details

See the plants native habitat for ideas on its cultivation needs.
This species is a weed of cultivated cereals and can harbour pests common to cultivated crops.

Propagation

Seed - we have no details for this species but suggest sowing the seed in situ in April and only just covering it.

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

Web References

[E] Ethnobotany Data (common names, uses, countries) from the Ethnobotany Database.
[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[C] Taxon data. from the CalFlora database.
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[K] Ken Fern
Notes from observations, tasting etc at Plants For A Future and on field trips.

[17] Clapham, Tootin and Warburg. Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press 1962
A very comprehensive flora, the standard reference book but it has no pictures.

[147] ? A Barefoot Doctors Manual. Running Press ISBN 0-914294-92-X
A very readable herbal from China, combining some modern methods with traditional chinese methods.

[177] Kunkel. G. Plants for Human Consumption. Koeltz Scientific Books 1984 ISBN 3874292169
An excellent book for the dedicated. A comprehensive listing of latin names with a brief list of edible parts.

Readers Comments

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Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
WEB search engine by Rich Morris - Home Page- Contact Info
Blagdon Cross, Ashwater, Beaworthy, Devon, EX21 5DF, UK.
Website: www.pfaf.org Phone: 0845 458 4719/_44(0) 1208 872963

This page (UK) http://www.comp.leeds.ac.uk/cgi-bin/pfaf/arr_html?Alopecurus+aequalis
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We make no claims of magical effects or supernatural powers for any item in this catalog. In spite of legendary attributes or occult and craft tradition, such items are offered as curios only and beliefs concerning their magical effectiveness are related only for historical interest.