Fall Grasses - Yellow Foxtail

Last fall I became interested in the wide variety of grasses that were flowering and making seeds.  I wrote a blog entry on one of the grasses called Little Bluestem.  Here's that entry:  Little Bluestem. 

This year I've identified several more grasses from a book I bought when we went to an open house at the Tall Grass Prairie Preserve last fall.  I wrote about that as well:   Tall Grass Prairie Preserve

This article is about Yellow Foxtail grass.  The seed heads look like this and it is easy to see that it looks somewhat like a fox's tail.

On our land, it grows in patches that are sort of ugly.

I viewed it as a weed until I identified it and began to read about it.  I found that it is one of the most important foods for many species of wildlife.  In fact, it was planted long ago in China and is among the earliest of cultivated grains.  So, even though, it is unsightly and does not make for a perfect lawn, it is a grass that has a great many benefits.

In fact, I first noticed it when it was flowering and, when looking at it from a distance, it had a purplish/pinkish hue.   Yes, grasses do have flowers.  When viewed up close, the flowers were really quite pretty.

Now, a word of caution.  There are many varieties of grasses that fall in to the foxtail category.  Some of them have long spikes on the seeds that, when dry, can be dangerous to dogs because the spikes can cling to the fur and work their way into the skin causing lesions which may become infected.  Or, they can get into a dog's nasal passage or ear canal and cause even more serious health problems.  The good news is Yellow Foxtail is not one of the dangerous foxtails.  

For more information, please see the following two links.

http://wildfoodshomegarden.com/Foxtail.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxtail_(diaspore)