Grass or grass-like · Poaceae
Carolina foxtail
Alopecurus carolinianus
Carolina foxtail is recorded as native to 42 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 652 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Carolina foxtail at a glance
- Native in
- 652 counties, across 42 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3a PLANTS minimum temperature −43°F
- Mature height
- 1.7 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Full sun (shade-intolerant) Low water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 3a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −43°F; zone 3a winters bottom out at −40°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Carolina foxtail is recorded as native to 42 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 652 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 652 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 3 counties
- Arizona 4 counties
- Arkansas 39 counties
- California 9 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 1 county
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Florida 5 counties
- Georgia 9 counties
- Idaho 6 counties
- Illinois 78 counties
- Indiana 34 counties
- Iowa 14 counties
- Kansas 39 counties
- Kentucky 23 counties
- Louisiana 59 counties
- Massachusetts 2 counties
- Michigan 3 counties
- Minnesota 11 counties
- Mississippi 19 counties
- Missouri 54 counties
- Montana 2 counties
- Nebraska 9 counties
- New Jersey 2 counties
- New Mexico 2 counties
- New York 5 counties
- North Carolina 34 counties
- North Dakota 7 counties
- Ohio 7 counties
- Oklahoma 19 counties
- Oregon 6 counties
- Pennsylvania 4 counties
- South Carolina 17 counties
- South Dakota 3 counties
- Tennessee 37 counties
- Texas 38 counties
- Utah 2 counties
- Virginia 22 counties
- Washington 5 counties
- West Virginia 4 counties
- Wisconsin 8 counties
- Wyoming 6 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Graminoid
- Duration
- Annual
- Mature height
- 1.7 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Bunch
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Active growth period
- Spring
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intolerant (full sun (shade-intolerant))
- Moisture use
- Low water use
- Drought tolerance
- Low
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- High
- Precipitation range
- 15 to 60 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse, medium and fine
- pH range
- 4 to 7.5
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Medium
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Low
- Minimum root depth
- 12 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −43°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 100
- Fire tolerance
- Low
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Green
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Spring
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Yellow
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- No Known Source
- Family
- Poaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- ALCA4
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Alopecurus carolinianus (PLANTS symbol ALCA4).
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources