The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

creeping wild rye

Habit Strong perennial with long, tough, wiry rhizomes, the culms erect to decumbent, up to 1 m. tall.
Leaves

Sheaths open, auricles well-developed;

ligules under 0.5 mm. long;

blades flat, usually hairy, 5-10 mm. broad.

Flowers

Inflorescence a stiff, erect spike 7-15 mm. long, the rachis not disarticulating;

spikelets 5- to 6-flowered, 1 per node, crowded, about twice as long as the internodes;

glumes lanceolate, awn-tipped, 5- to 7-nerved, 6-7 mm. long;

lemmas slightly longer than the glumes, acute, awnless or with a straight awn up to 10 mm. long;

paleas equaling the lemmas.

Fruits

Utricle

Elymus lanceolatus

Elymus repens

Flowering time May-July June-August
Habitat Sand and clay soils, dry to mesic grasslands, and sagebrush. Fields, roadsides, meadows, pastures, wastelots, and other disturbed open areas.
Distribution
Occurring east of the Cascades crest in Washington; Alaska to California, east to the Rocky Mountains, Great Plains, and Great Lakes region.
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Occurring on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; Alaska to California, east across North America to the Atlantic Coast; circumboreal.
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Origin Native Introduced from Eurasia
Conservation status Not of concern Not of concern
Sibling taxa
E. albicans, E. canadensis, E. curvatus, E. elymoides, E. glaucus, E. ×hansenii, E. hirsutus, E. multisetus, E. ×pseudorepens, E. repens, E. scribneri, E. sierrae, E. trachycaulus, E. violaceus, E. wawawaiensis
E. albicans, E. canadensis, E. curvatus, E. elymoides, E. glaucus, E. ×hansenii, E. hirsutus, E. lanceolatus, E. multisetus, E. ×pseudorepens, E. scribneri, E. sierrae, E. trachycaulus, E. violaceus, E. wawawaiensis
Subordinate taxa
E. lanceolatus ssp. lanceolatus, E. lanceolatus ssp. psammophilus, E. lanceolatus ssp. riparius
Web links