Foxtail Grass Seed Awns

Grass awns are the seed pods of certain tall grasses that grow as invasive weeds.
Foxtail grass seed awns. A foxtail awn is the sharp barbed seed head of a grassy plant or type of wild barley. Foxtail awns are barbed razor sharp needles designed to burrow into the ground with the seed. These weedy grasses form seed pods that dry out and scatter in the summer. Also known as grass awns the foxtail weed can be hazardous to your lawn as well as your pets.
These awns can work their way through the tissue causing lesions and infections. Here is how to identify foxtails get them off your property and protect your dog. The sharp needles on the seed heads of the foxtail plant can also work their way into any part of your dog from the nose to between the toes and inside the ears eyes and mouth. Each individual seed contains spikes with barbs called awns which can lodge in horses mouths and gums or even scratch an eye.
It gets the name from the seed heads it forms which look exactly like the foxes tails. Awns of destruction for western dogs foxtail awns present the most insidious threat to the health of dogs in the western united states. Other common names for foxtail type grasses include cheatgrass speargrass bromegrass and needlegrass. Foxtails are grasses with seed awns that are extremely dangerous to dogs.
The applied nomer foxtail describes the bushy cluster of seed awns characteristic of these plants. Common examples of these weeds include foxtail and cheatgrass. Foxtail is an annual type of grass that rears its head in the summer months.