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big squirreltail

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 multisetus

Elymus repens

Flowering time May-August June-August
Habitat Dry, often rocky, open woodland and thickets on slopes and plains. Fields, roadsides, meadows, pastures, wastelots, and other disturbed open areas.
Distribution
Occurring east of the Cascades crest in Washington; central Washington to California, east to Idaho, Colorado, and Arizona.
[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. lanceolatus, 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
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