Elymus alaskanus
Elymus texensis
Alaska wild rye, alaskan wheatgrass, ellisia
Texan wildrye, Texas wildrye
20-90 cm, sometimes decumbent at the base, ascending to erect above;
nodes usually pubescent, sometimes glabrous.
70-110 cm, erect;
nodes 4-6, mostly exposed, glabrous.
sometimes basally concentrated;
sheaths smooth or scabrous, glabrous or pilose;
auricles absent or to 0.5 mm;
ligules 0.2-1 mm, erose, ciliolate;
blades 3-7 mm wide, flat, both surfaces smooth, scabrous, or pubescent.
evenly distributed;
sheaths glabrous or ciliate;
auricles to about 2 mm, pale to purplish brown;
ligules 1-2 mm, erose;
blades 2-9 mm wide, lax or somewhat involute, adaxial surfaces thinly scabrous to hirsute or densely pilose.
3.5-14 cm long, 0.5-0.8 cm wide, erect or nodding distally, usually with 1 spikelet per node, occasionally with 2 at the lower nodes;
internodes 3-10 mm long, 0.5-0.8 mm wide, mostly glabrous and smooth, edges scabrous or ciliate.
9-20 cm long, 2-2.5 cm wide, erect to slightly nodding, with 2 spikelets per node;
internodes (5)7-15(22) mm long, 0.1-0.3 mm thick at the thinnest sections, glabrous except for the ciliolate margins, with slight dorsal angles and green lateral bands along the concave sides.
9-15(20) mm, 2-5 times longer than the internodes, appressed, with 3-6 florets, rachillas hispidulous;
disarticulation above the glumes, beneath each floret.
13-20 mm excluding the awns, 20-40 mm including the awns, appressed, with 4-6(8) florets, lowest florets functional;
disarticulation above the glumes, beneath each floret.
4-8 mm long, (1.2)1.5-2 mm wide, 1/3-2/3 as long as the adjacent lemmas, oblanceolate to obovate, flat, usually purplish, glabrous or hairy, hairs 0.3-0.5 mm, margins unequal, the widest margin 0.4-1 mm wide, both margins widest above the middle, apices unawned or awned, awns to 1 mm;
lemmas 7-11 mm, glabrous or hairy, sometimes scabridulous, sometimes more densely hairy distally, hairs 0.2-0.6 mm, all alike, apices unawned or awned, awns to 7 mm, straight;
paleas subequal to the lemmas, keels straight below the apices;
anthers 1-2 mm.
subequal, 14-24 mm long including the undifferentiated awns, 0.1-0.3 mm wide, setaceous, entire, 0-1-veined, tapering from the base, glabrous, margins firm, awns more or less straight;
lemmas 8-12 mm, smooth, glabrous, awns 8-25 mm, straight, flexuous or slightly curving;
paleas 7-11 mm, obtuse or truncate;
anthers 4.5-6 mm.
in May.
= 28.
= unknown.
Elymus alaskanus
Elymus texensis
Elymus alaskanus extends across the high arctic of North America to extreme eastern Russia. This treatment interprets E. alaskanus as having relatively short glumes, in accordance with its treatment by Hulten (1968). Large specimens resemble E. macrourus (see previous), but differ in the shape of their glumes and in their wider glume margins. Elymus alaskanus differs from E. trachycaulus (p. 321) in its greater cold tolerance and the distal widening of its glume margins. There is some intergradation, particularly with E. violaceus (p. 324) and E. trachycaulus, but these species have longer glumes. Moreover, in western North America, E. violaceus is restricted to rocky habitats at or above treeline, whereas E. alaskanus is often associated with valleys and flat areas. Reports of its extending to New Mexico are based on the inclusion of high-elevation forms of E. trachycaulus.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Elymus texensis is known only from calcareous bluffs and hills in juniper woods and grassy areas on the Edwards Plateau of southwest Texas. It is known from only three collections and needs further study (Campbell 2002). It is similar to the Mexican species E. pringlei (see previous), but differs in its larger anthers, larger, less pubescent spikelets, and in its longer, glabrous rachis internodes with green lateral bands.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Glumes glabrous, scabrous or sparsely hairy, hairs to about 0.2 mm long; lemmas glabrous or with hairs to about 0.2 mm long | subsp. alaskanus |
1. Glumes and lemmas densely hairy, hairs 0.2-0.5 mm long | subsp. hyperarcticus |
BC
OR
CalFlora
Flora NW
MI Flora
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
