Introduced from Europe, it is most prevalent in thin turfs on rich soils. The stems are erect, branching, and compressed at the base. Leaf blades are flat and medium in width. The sheath is smooth and has a few long hairs at its base. Unlike most other cool-season grasses, yellow foxtail has a ring of hairs for a ligule.
Young shoots have a rolled vernation .
The inflorescence of yellow foxtail is a narrow spikelike panicle of one-flowered spikelets. Yellow foxtail receives its name from the yellowish appearance of the seedhead as it dries late in the season. It is generally not a serious weed in a well-established turf but can present serious competition to seedling grasses during establishment . Goosegrass or silver crabgrass is a warm-season annual which generally germinates several weeks after crabgrass in the north during the spring. It can grow under extremely closely mowed conditions, such as a putting or bowling green .