Elymus curvatus
Elymus tsukushiensis
awnless wild-rye, awnless wlldrye, beardless wild rye
tsukushi wildrye
60-110 cm, stiffly erect, or the base sometimes geniculate;
nodes 6-9, concealed or exposed, glabrous.
25-100 cm tall, 1.3-3.5 mm thick, erect;
nodes 4-6, 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.
basal and cauline;
sheaths glaucous, glabrous or with hairs, margins glabrous or ciliate distally;
auricles 1-2 mm;
ligules 0.2-0.7 mm, truncate;
blades 3-10 mm wide, flattish, often glaucous.
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.
(6.5)10-25 cm long, 1.4-4 cm wide including the awns, 0.7-20 cm wide excluding the awns, flexuous, nodding;
rachises densely to sparsely hirsute on the edges, hairs about 0.2 mm, glabrous elsewhere, glaucous;
internodes (5)8-20 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.
15-25 mm, loosely appressed or ascending, with 5-10 florets;
rachillas hairy, hairs about 0.1 mm;
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.
lanceolate, tapering from about midlength, adaxial surfaces glabrous, hyaline margins about 0.1 mm wide, strongly keeled distally, midvein scabrous distally, other veins smooth or scabrous, apices acute to acuminate, sometimes awned, awns 2-5 mm;
lower glumes 4-7 mm, 3-5-veined;
upper glumes 5-8 mm, 5-veined;
calluses glabrous;
lemmas 8-12 mm, lanceolate, glabrous or pilose, apices acute, awned, awns 20-40 mm, straight or flexuous;
paleas from slightly shorter than to longer than the lemmas, keels narrowly winged distally, not or scarcely extending beyond the intercostal region, distinctly outwardly curved below the apices, apices 0.3-0.5 mm wide;
anthers 1.5-2.5 mm.
late June to mid-August.
= 28, 42.
= 42.
Elymus curvatus
Elymus tsukushiensis
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 tsuskushiensis is native to northeastern China, Japan, and Korea. It was collected from ballast dumps in Portland, Oregon, but is not established in the Flora region. Hitchcock (1951) identified it and E. ciliaris as Agropyron caninum (L.) P. Beauv. [= Elymus caninus, p. 322], but that species has flatter glumes that are longer in relation to the lemmas than those of E. tsuskushiensis, and paleas with straight or slightly outwardly curved keels.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
BC
WA
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
OR
