Elymus curvatus
Elymus hoffmannii
awnless wild-rye, awnless wlldrye, beardless wild rye
Hoffmann's wheatgrass, rs wheatgrass
60-110 cm, stiffly erect, or the base sometimes geniculate;
nodes 6-9, concealed or exposed, glabrous.
54-135 cm, glabrous.
evenly distributed;
sheaths glabrous, often reddish brown;
auricles to 1 mm, sometimes absent;
ligules shorter than 1 mm, ciliolate;
blades 5-15 mm wide, the lower blades usually lax, shorter, narrower, and senescing earlier, the upper blades usually ascending and somewhat involute, adaxial surfaces smooth or scabridulous, occasionally scabrous.
evenly distributed;
sheaths glabrous;
auricles absent or to 1 mm;
ligules 0.6-1 mm, truncate, erose;
blades 5-13 mm wide, flat to involute, abaxial surfaces smooth, glabrous, adaxial surfaces glabrous, veins closely spaced, all more or less equally prominent, smooth or scabrous.
9-15 cm long, (0.5)0.7-1.3 cm wide, erect, exserted or the bases slightly sheathed, with 2 spikelets per node;
internodes 2.5-4.5 mm long, about 0.25-5 mm thick at the thinnest sections, smooth or scabrous beneath the spikelets.
10-50 cm long, 0.8-1.8 cm wide, with 1 spikelet per node, glabrous below the spikelets;
internodes 5-8 mm long, about 0.2 mm thick, about 0.3 mm wide, both surfaces hairy, hairs 0.2-0.4 mm.
10-15 mm, appressed, often reddish brown at maturity, with (2)3-4(5) florets, lowest florets functional;
disarticulation below the glumes and beneath the florets, or the lowest floret falling with the glumes.
15-27 mm, appressed to ascending, with 5-7 florets;
rachillas scabridulous;
disarticulation above the glumes, beneath the florets.
equal or subequal, the basal 2-3 mm terete, indurate, strongly bowed out, without evident venation, glume bodies 7-15 mm long, 1.2-2.1 mm wide, linear-lanceolate, widening above the base, 3-5-veined, usually glabrous or scabrous, occasionally hispidulous, rarely hirsute on the veins, margins firm, awns 0-3(5) mm;
lemmas 6-10 mm, glabrous or scabrous, rarely hirsute, awns (0.5)1-3(4) mm, rarely 5-10 mm on the lemmas of the distal spikelets, straight;
paleas 6-10 mm, obtuse, often emarginate;
anthers 1.5-3 mm.
equal, 5-11 mm long, 1.3-1.8 mm wide, stiff, lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, strongly rounded to keeled distally, keels inconspicuous and smooth on the proximal 1/3-1/2, conspicuous and with a few teeth distally, lateral veins inconspicuous, hyaline margins 0.1-0.2 mm wide, apices acuminate to awned, awns to 8 mm;
lemmas 7-12 mm, glabrous, smooth, apices unawned or awned, awns to 12 mm, straight;
paleas ciliate on the keels, apices about 0.6 mm wide;
anthers 4-7 mm.
late June to mid-August.
= 28, 42.
= 42.
Elymus curvatus
Elymus hoffmannii
Elymus curvatus grows in moist or damp soils of open forests, thickets, grasslands, ditches, and disturbed ground, especially on bottomland. It is widespread from British Columbia and Washington, through the Intermountain region and northern Rockies, to the northern Great Plains. It is infrequent or rare in the midwest, the Great Lakes region, and the northeast, and is virtually unknown in the southeast. It is similar to E. virginicus (p. 298), and has sometimes been included in that species as E. virginicus var. submuticus Hook., but is more distinct than the varieties of E. virginicus treated above. Although E. virginicus and E. curvatus overlap greatly in range, E. curvatus usually has a distinct growth form, and its anthesis is 1-2 weeks later (Brooks 1974). Its spikes range from being completely exserted, especially west of the Great Plains, to largely sheathed, especially east of the Mississippi River and in more stressed environments. This geographic trend parallels that within E. virginicus, but sheathed plants of E. curvatus can usually be distinguished by their short awns. Clear transitions to E. virginicus, usually var. jejunus, are rare, but, especially from Missouri to Wisconsin, there are occasional plants with 5-10 mm awns on a few lemmas, especially at the spike tips. Rarely, plants from Missouri and Iowa to Quebec have hispid to hirsute spikelets, suggesting introgression with E. virginicus var. intermedius. There are a few records of apparent hybrids with other species.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Elymus hoffmannii was described from a breeding line of plants developed from seeds collected in Erzurum Province, Turkey by J.A. Hoffmann and R.J. Metzger (Jensen & Asay 1996). There is no information available about its native distribution. As indicated in the key, E. hoffmannii differs from E. repens (see previous) primarily in its evenly prominent, closely spaced leaf veins and, usually, in having longer awns.
The description of Elymus hoffmannii was explicitly written to encompass the cultivar 'NewHy' that is derived from an artificial cross between E. repens and Pseudoroegneria spicata (p. 281). Because of its morphological similarity to plants obtained from the Turkish seed, Jensen and Asay suggested that E. hoffmannii had a similar parentage. 'NewHy' was released as a cultivar in the 1980s. Its distribution within the Flora region is not known.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
BC
WA
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
