Distribution Map

Vegetative Morphology
Plants	perennial; shortly rhizomatous.
Culms	(6)10-80 cm.
Ligules	1-2 mm, truncate.
Blades	4-22 cm long, 2.5-7 mm wide.
Upper sheaths	inflated.
Reproductive Morphology
Panicles	1-5 cm long, 8-14 mm wide.
Glumes	3-5 mm, connate to 1/8 their lengths, densely pilose throughout, keels not winged, ciliate.
Lemmas	2.5-4.5 mm, connate 1/2-2/3 their lengths, glabrous below, finely pubescent near the tips.
Awns	2-6(8) mm, geniculate, exceeding the lemmas by 0-5 mm.
Anthers	2.3-3 mm.
Caryopses	0.7-2 mm.

Chromosome Number(s)

2n = 98, 100, 105, 112, 117, 119, ca. 120.

Nativity / Range

It has an arctic-alpine to subalpine circumpolar distribution.

Typical Habitat(s)

Wet soils in tundra, meadows, along streams, shorelines, gravelbars, and floodplains, and occasionally in somewhat drier forest openings, in fine or silty to stony soils or moss.

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Additional Notes

It is sometimes co-dominant with Dupontia fisheri in the arctic and subarctic portion of its range. The anthocyanic tint of the plant as a whole greatly increases to the north.

Alopecurus borealis is listed in many floras as A. alpinus Sm., a name that was originally applied to another species.

Name/Synonymy Publication Info

Alopecurus borealis Trin., Fund. Agrost. 58 (1820); Alopecurus alpinus var. borealis (Trin.) Krylov, Fl. zapadnoi Sibiri 2:193 (1928); Alopecurus alpinus subsp. borealis (Trin.) Jurtzev, Novosti Sist. Vyssh. Rast. 1965:307 (1965). LEC: LE; U.S.A., Alaska: St. Paul Island; G.H. Langsdorff [Tzvelev, Zlaki SSSR 378 (1976)].

Alopecurus alpinus Sm. in Sm. & Sowerby, Engl. bot. 16:pl. 1126 (1803), nom. illeg., non Vill. (1786). HOL: LINN; Scotland: Aberdeenshire, mountains about Loch Nagore; G. Donn.

Alopecurus glaucus Less., Linnaea 9:206 (1835); Alopecurus alpinus subsp. glaucus (Less.) Hult?n, Ark. Bot, Ser. 2, 7:10 (1968). HOL: CW; Russia: southern Urals, Mt. Taganai, alt. 1900-3000 feet.

Alopecurus alpinus var. altaicus Griseb. in Ledeb., Fl. ross. 4:462 (1852). HOL: GOET; "Altai" [Russia/Mongolia/China]; 1831; H.R.A. Grisebach 946.

Alopecurus occidentalis Scribner & Tweedy, Bot. Gaz. 11:170 (1886). HOL: US 996651!; U.S.A., Wyoming: Yellowstone National Park, Mirror Lake Plateau, alt. 8800 feet; 1885; F. Tweedy 591.

Alopecurus stejnegeri Vasey, Proc. U. S. Natl. Mus. 10:153 (1887); Alopecurus alpinus subsp. stejnegeri (Vasey) Hult?n, Ark. Bot., n.s., 7:9 (1968). LEC: US!; Russia: Bering [Beringa] Island, at South Rookery; L. Stejneger [Crins, lectotype designated here].

Alopecurus pratensis var. alpestris sensu Vasey, Contr. U.S. Natl. Herb. 3¹:86 (1892), nec Wahlenb. (1812), nec Hartman (1843).

Alopecurus tenuis Kom., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 13:85 (1914). HOL: LE; Russia: Kamchatka [Kamcatka], sandy bank of Kronotskoe Lake near the foot of a steep slope; 12 Aug 1909; V.L. Komarov 3198.

Alopecurus behringianus Gand., Bull. Soc. Bot. France 66:298 (1919). HOL: LY; U.S.A., Alaska: St. Paul Island; J.M. Macoun.

Alopecurus roshevitzianus Ovcz. in Kom., Fl. URSS 2:154 (1934). TYPE: Russia: Siberia, Kolyma region along the path from Pokhodsky to Panteleevskaya winter quarters, Tolsty cave and the Cape of Kresty, slopes toward Kolyma; 28 Jul 1905; I. Shulga 396.

Treatment From

W.J. Crins. Alopecurus in Flora of North America, volume 24. In prep. Oxford University Press.

Vegetative Morphology