2.12.97
Virtual WeedPatch
Weed ID
fox.html
Grass (Graminaceae) Family
Foxtail Species-Group
Seeds & Seedlings
The soil seed-bud bank is the source of all weed problems, it is the focus
of all weed management. One of the reasons the foxtails are so successful
is they shed large numbers of seed that remain dormant in the soil, waiting
for an opportunity. The foxtail seed that is shed every year in the seed
rain is a heterogeneous mixture of dormancy phenotypes, meaning that each
seed has slightly (or larger) differences in the ability to germinate.
Some are very dormant and can remain in the soil for years. Other seeds
in the seed rain can germinate immediately, or even before they land in
the soil. The giant foxtail seedlings below germinated in a pollenation
bag we (actually Milt Haar) placed over the panicle (seedhead) in our research
nursury. Some of the seed germinated right in the bag during a rain storm,
precocious germination:
Giant foxtail seedlings:
Actually most foxtail seedlings are very, very difficult to distinguish.
Yellow foxtail seedlings have the long hairs at the leaf base (seed leaf
section), but otherwise it is often just seedlings of the foxtail species-group:
Seed. Notice the glumes (brown papery envelopes around the seed) and
setae (long hairs that make it a foxtail) in this yellow foxtail seed.
Yellow foxtail seed are much larger than seed of the other foxtail species:
