Elymus curvatus
Elymus violaceus
awnless wild-rye, awnless wlldrye, beardless wild rye
Alaska wildrye, arctic wheatgrass, arctic wildrye, bearded wheatgrass, high wheatgrass, élyme latiglume
60-110 cm, stiffly erect, or the base sometimes geniculate;
nodes 6-9, concealed or exposed, glabrous.
18-75 cm, often decumbent or geniculate;
nodes usually glabrous.
glabrous;
auricles about 0.5 mm;
ligules 0.5-1 mm, truncate;
blades 3-4 mm wide, flat, glabrous or hairy, abaxial surfaces less densely hairy and with shorter hairs than the adaxial surfaces, apices acute.
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.
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.
5-12 cm long, 0.4-0.7 cm wide excluding the awns, erect, with 1 spikelet per node;
internodes 4-5.5 mm, edges ciliate.
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.
11-19 mm, appressed, with (3)4-5 florets;
rachillas hairy, hairs about 0.4 mm;
disarticulation above the glumes, beneath each floret.
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.
8-12 mm long, 1.2-2 mm wide, about 3/4 as long as to equaling the adjacent lemmas, narrowly ovate to obovate, often purplish, glabrous, sometimes scabrous, flat or equally keeled the full length, keels and other veins usually smooth, sometimes scabrous, 3(5)-veined, adaxial surfaces glabrous, margins usually unequal, the wider margin 0.3-1 mm wide, usually widest in the distal 1/3, apices acute to rounded, often awned, awns to 2 mm;
lemmas glabrous or pubescent, hairs flexible, all similar, apices usually awned, awns 0.5-3 mm, straight;
paleas subequal to the lemmas, tapering to the apices, apices about 0.4 mm wide;
anthers 0.7-1.3 mm.
late June to mid-August.
StH.
= 28, 42.
= 28.
Elymus curvatus
Elymus violaceus
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 violaceus grows in arctic, subalpine, and alpine habitats, on calcareous or dolomitic rocks, from Alaska through arctic Canada to Greenland, and south in the Rocky Mountains to southern New Mexico. In western North America, it forms intermediates with E. scribneri (p. 330), E. trachycaulus (p. 321), and E. alaskanus (p. 326). It is treated here as including E. alaskanus subsp. latiglumis [= Agropyron latiglume], E. alaskanus being restricted to plants with relatively short glumes that are often found in valleys and at lower elevations than E. violaceus. Western plants of E. violaceous tend to be more glaucous, have shorter spikes and spikelets, and more obovate glumes than plants from Greenland but, until more is known about the extent and genetic basis of the variation in and among E. violaceus, E. alaskanus, and E. trachycaulus, formal taxonomic recognition seems inappropriate.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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