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Alopecurus geniculatus

species of plant

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 5, 2026
Entity authorityQ159695
Source-derived summary

Alopecurus geniculatus is a species of grass known by the common name water foxtail or marsh foxtail.

It is native to much of Eurasia and introduced into North America, South America, and Australia. It grows in moist areas.

Alopecurus geniculatus is a perennial grass forming bunches of erect stems up to about 60 cm (24 in) in height. The leaves are up 12 cm (4.7 in) in length. The pale green to purplish inflorescence is a dense panicle up to 6 or 7 cm (2.4 or 2.8 in) long which blooms in dusty yellow-orange anthers. reproduces sexually by seeds and can reproduce vegetatively by rooting at stem nodes.

In Europe, it can be affected by a fungus, known as 'Foxtail Smut', Urocystis alopecuri.

Environmental conservation

Alopecurus geniculatus is a component of purple moor grass and rush pastures a type of Biodiversity Action Plan habitat in the UK. It occurs on poorly drained neutral and acidic soils of the lowlands and upland fringe.

Nonindigenous spread

The grass has spread significantly in the United States since it was first introduced.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Alopecurus geniculatus” is species of plant. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Alopecurus, geniculatus and species, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA practical orientation to terminology and classification, particularly when read beside dated observations, specimens or technical literature. The current 178-word lead offers orientation but no explicit four-digit date, so chronology should not be assumed. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. For this dossier, Alopecurus, geniculatus and species is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “species of plant” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Stable identifiers, scientific names and standards terminology offer the best bridge between this overview and specialist evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q159695. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.

Critical limits

Current terminology should not be projected backward without checking the classification used when the underlying evidence was created. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Check terminology, classification and the date of the cited evidence. Scientific names and technical consensus can change while older records retain historical value.

Best used for
  • Current terminology
  • Classification context
  • Finding cited technical literature
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Primary datasets, specimen catalogues, standards bodies and the most recent peer-reviewed literature.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Alopecurus geniculatus”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Alopecurus geniculatus primary sources, Alopecurus geniculatus archive and Alopecurus research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Alopecurus geniculatus”?
  2. Which observation, specimen, dataset or publication supports the account?
  3. Is the terminology current, historical or disputed?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Alopecurus geniculatus” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.