Elymus curvatus
Elymus wawawaiensis
awnless wild-rye, awnless wlldrye, beardless wild rye
Snake River wheatgrass, wawawai wild rye
60-110 cm, stiffly erect, or the base sometimes geniculate;
nodes 6-9, concealed or exposed, glabrous.
(15)50-130 cm, erect, mostly glabrous;
nodes usually glabrous, sometimes slightly pubescent.
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.
more or less evenly distributed;
basal sheaths glabrate, margins not evidently ciliate;
auricles absent or to 1.2 mm;
ligules 0.1-1.1 mm;
blades to 28 cm long, 1.7-5 mm wide, involute when dry, adaxial surfaces usually densely pubescent, rarely sparsely pubescent.
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.
5-20 cm long, 2.5-3 cm wide including the awns, erect to slightly nodding, with 1 spikelet per node;
internodes 5-12 mm long, about 0.2 mm thick, about 0.3 mm wide, glabrous beneath the spikelets.
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.
10-22 mm long, about twice as long as the internodes, 2-8.5 mm wide, appressed, with 4-10 florets;
rachillas glabrous;
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.
4-10 mm long, 0.5-1.3 mm wide, narrowly lanceolate, widest at or below midlength, glabrous, often glaucous, 1-3-veined, flat or weakly keeled, margins 0.1-0.2 mm wide, widest near midlength, apices usually acuminate, awned or unawned, awns to 6 mm;
lemmas 6-12 mm, smooth or slightly scabrous, margins often sparsely pubescent proximally, apices awned, longest awns in the spikelets 9-28 mm, strongly divergent;
paleas 7.2-10.5 mm, keels scabrous distally, tapering to the 0.2-0.3 mm wide apices;
anthers 3.5-6 mm.
late June to mid-August.
= 28, 42.
= 28.
Elymus curvatus
Elymus wawawaiensis
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 wawawaiensis grows primarily in shallow, rocky soils of slopes in coulees and reaches of the Salmon, Snake, and Yakima rivers of Washington, northern Oregon, and Idaho. There are also a few records from localities at some distance from the Snake River and its tributaries. These probably reflect deliberate introductions. C.V. Piper, who worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture in southeastern Washington from 1892-1902, frequently distributed seed to farmers in the region from populations that he considered superior; he considered E. wawawaiensis to be a superior form of what is here called Pseudo-roegneria spicata (p. 281). Another source of introduced populations is 'Secar', a cultivar of E. wawawaiensis that is recommended as a forage grass for arid areas of the northwestern United States.
Elymus wawawaiensis resembles a vigorous version of Pseudoroegneria spicata, and was long confused with that species. It differs in its more imbricate spikelets and narrower, stiff glumes. In its primary range, E. wawawaiensis is often sympatric with P. spicata, but the two tend to grow in different habitats, E. wawawaiensis growing in shallow, rocky soils and P. spicata in medium- to fine-textured loess soil. The two species also differ cytologically, E. wawawaiensis being an allo-tetraploid, and P. spicata consisting of diploids and autotetraploids.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
BC
WA
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
OR
