Elymus lanceolatus |
Elymus virginicus |
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streambank wheatgrass, streamside wild rye, thick-spike wildrye, thickspike wheatgrass |
common eastern wild-rye, Virginia wild rye, élyme de virginie |
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Habit | Plants strongly rhizomatous, sometimes glaucous. | Plants cespitose, not rhizomatous, sometimes glaucous, especially in the spikes. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Culms | 22-130 cm, erect; nodes glabrous. |
30-130 cm, erect to slightly decumbent; nodes 4-9, concealed or exposed, usually glabrous, rarely pubescent. |
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Leaves | often mostly basal, sometimes more evenly distributed; sheaths glabrous or pubescent; auricles usually present on the lower leaves, 0.5-1.5 mm; ligules 0.1-0.5 mm, erose, sometimes ciliolate; blades 1.5-6 mm wide, generally involute, abaxial surfaces usually glabrous, adaxial surfaces strigose, ribs subequal in size and spacing. |
evenly distributed; sheaths usually glabrous, rarely hirsute, occasionally reddish or purplish; auricles absent or to 1.8 mm, pale brown; ligules shorter than 1 mm; blades 2-14(18) mm wide, usually spreading or lax, sometimes becoming involute, basal blades similar to the upper blades, adaxial surfaces usually smooth, sometimes scabridulous, usually glabrous, occasionally pubescent. |
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Spikes | 3.5-26 cm long, 0.5-1 cm wide, erect to slightly nodding, usually with 1 spikelet per node, sometimes with 2 at a few nodes; internodes 3.5-15 mm long, 0.1-0.8 mm wide, glabrous or hairy. |
(3)4-16(22) cm long, 1-2.2(2.5) cm wide, erect, the bases often sheathed, with 2 spikelets per node, rarely with 3 at some nodes; internodes 3-5 mm long, 0.25-0.5 thick at the thinnest sections, smooth and glabrous, or scabrous, or with hairs beneath the spikelets. |
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Spikelets | 8-31 mm, 1.5-3 times longer than the internodes, appressed, with 3-11 florets; rachillas glabrous or hairy, hairs to 1 mm; disarticulation above the glumes, beneath each floret. |
10-15 mm, appressed to slightly divergent, with (2)3-4(6) florets, lowest florets functional; disarticulation below the glumes and each floret, or the lowest floret falling with the glumes. |
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Glumes | subequal, 5-14 mm long, 1/2 - 3/4 the length of the adjacent lemmas, 0.7-1.3 mm wide, lanceolate, glabrous or hairy, smooth or scabrous, 3-5-veined, flat or weakly, often asymmetrically keeled, keels straight, margins narrow, tapering from the base or from beyond midlength, apices acute to acuminate, sometimes mucronate or shortly awned; lemmas 7-12 mm, glabrous or hairy, hairs all alike, sometimes scabrous, acute to awn-tipped, awns to 2 mm, straight; paleas about equal to the lemmas, keels straight below the apices, smooth or scabrous proximally, sometimes hairy, scabrous distally, intercostal region glabrous or with hairs, apices 0.2-0.3 mm wide; anthers (2.5)3-6 mm. |
subequal or equal, the basal 1-4 mm terete, indurate, without evident venation, bowed out, yellowish, glume bodies 7-15 mm long, (0.5)0.7-2.3 mm wide, linear-lanceolate, widening above the base, 3-5(8)-veined, usually smooth or scabridulous, margins firm, awns 3-10(15) mm, straight; lemmas 6-10 mm, scabridulous, glabrous or villous-hirsute, awns (5)8-20(25) mm, straight; paleas 5-9 mm, obtuse; anthers 2-3.5(4) mm. |
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Anthesis | usually mid-June to late July (mid-August). |
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2n | = 28. |
= 28. |
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Elymus lanceolatus |
Elymus virginicus |
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Distribution |
AK; AZ; CA; CO; ID; IL; MI; MT; ND; NE; NM; NV; OR; SD; WA; WI; WY; AB; BC; MB; ON; SK; YT
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AL; AR; AZ; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; TX; VA; VT; WI; WV; WY; AB; BC; LB; MB; NB; NS; ON; PE; QC; SK
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Discussion | Elymus lanceolatus grows in sand and clay soils and dry to mesic habitats. It is found primarily in the western half of the Flora region, between the coastal mountains and 95° W longitude, with the exception of E. lanceolatus subsp. psammophilus, which extends around the Great Lakes. Three subspecies are recognized, primarily on the basis of their lemma and palea pubescence. Elymus lanceolatus is primarily outcrossing, and hybridizes with several species of Triticeae. Elymus albicans (p. 334) is thought to be derived from hybridization with the awned phase of Pseudoroegneria spicata (p. 281). Judging from specimens of controlled hybrids, hybridization with E. trachycaulus (p. 321) and unawned plants of P. spicata probably occur, but would be almost impossible to detect without careful observation in the field. Experimental hybrids are partially fertile, and capable of backcrossing to either parent (Dewey 1965, 1967, 1968, 1975, 1976). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Elymus virginicus is widespread in temperate North America, growing as far west as British Columbia and Arizona. It is infrequent to rare in the Rocky Mountains, western Great Plains, and southeastern coastal plain. It is a complex species, divided here into four intergrading varieties. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 24, p. 327. | FNA vol. 24, p. 298. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Triticeae > Elymus | Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Triticeae > Elymus | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Synonyms | Agropyron dasystachyum var. riparium, Agropyron dasystachyum | |||||||||||||||||||||
Name authority | (Scribn. & J.G. Sm.) Gould | L. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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