Alopecurus himalaicus Hook. fil.

Common in the alpine zone between 3000 and 5200 m where it is grazed by sheep, cattle, yak and goats.

Perennial, loosely tufted or culms solitary, rhizomatous. Culms erect, 15–50 cm tall, 3-noded. Leaf sheaths smooth, upper sheaths inflated; leaf blades 5–12 cm, 3–7 mm wide, abaxial surface smooth, adaxial surface scabrid; ligule 2–3 mm. Panicle ovoid to shortly and broadly cylindrical, densely hairy, 1.5–3 cm, gray-green or tinged light purple. Spikelets narrowly ovate-oblong, slightly urn-shaped, 4–6 mm; glumes submembranous, densely villous on keel, lateral veins and near margins, hairs soft, spreading, 2–3 mm, margins connate at base, apices sharply acuminate to mucronate, slightly divergent; lemma shorter than glumes, margins connate in lower 1/3–1/2, upper margins shortly pubescent, awned from lower 1/5–1/4, apex broadly acute; awn exserted 4–8 mm from spikelet, geniculate. Anthers yellow, 2–3 mm. Fl. Jun. 2n = 56.

Perennial; culms 30-80 cm high, erect from short rhizomes. Leaf-blades 5-12 cm long, 3-6 mm wide, glabrous; upper sheaths distinctly inflated; ligule 2-3 mm long, obtuse. Panicle 15-3.2 cm long, 8-12 mm wide, ovoid-cylindrical. Spikelets 3-5 mm long; glumes sharply acute to shortly aristate, slightly divergent at the tips, connate only at the extreme base, wingless, densely covered with white hairs up to 3 mm long; lemma shorter than the glumes, broadly acute, the margins connate for a third to half their length; awn exceeding the tip of the lemma by 5-8 mm; anthers 2-3 mm long.

SW Xinjiang (Taxkorgan) [NE Afghanistan, Kashmir, Kyrgyzstan, N Pakistan, Tajikistan].

Distribution: Pakistan (N.W.F.P., Gilgit & Kashmir); Bulgaria eastwards through Iran and Afghanistan to Kashmir and southern Central Asia.

Fl. & Fr. Per.: July-August

Damp alpine grasslands, wet places on rocky slopes; 3000–4100 m.