Elymus macgregorii
Elymus caninus
early wild-rye
bearded wheatgrass
40-120 cm, erect or slightly decumbent;
nodes 4-8, mostly exposed, glabrous.
30-130 cm, erect or geniculate, usually hairy on or below the nodes.
evenly distributed;
sheaths usually glabrous, rarely villous;
auricles 2-3 mm, usually purplish black when fresh, sometimes light brown;
ligules shorter than 1 mm;
blades 7-15 mm wide, lax, dark glossy green under the glaucous bloom, adaxial surfaces usually glabrous, occasionally villous.
evenly distributed;
sheaths glabrous;
auricles to 1.5 mm;
ligules 0.2-1.5 mm;
blades 10-30 cm long, 4-10 mm wide, flat, both surfaces scabrous, adaxial surfaces sometimes with hairs over the veins, hairs to 0.5 mm, veins not prominent, widely spaced.
4-12 cm long, (1.7)2.2-3(4)4 cm wide, erect, exserted, with (6)9-16(20) nodes and 2 spikelets at all or most nodes, sometimes with 3 at some nodes;
internodes 4-7 mm long, about 0.3 mm thick and 2-angled at the thinnest sections, usually glabrous or scabridulous beneath the spikelets.
5-20 cm long, 0.5-1.5 cm wide including the awns, 5-8 mm wide excluding the awns, erect or arching, with 1 spikelet per node;
internodes 4.5-7 mm, edges scabrous or ciliate, both surfaces hairy below the spikelets.
10-15 mm, strongly divergent, glaucous, maturing to pale yellowish brown, with (2)3-4 florets, lowest florets functional;
disarticulation below the glumes and each floret, the lowest floret often falling with the glumes.
10-15(20) mm long, 2-5(7) mm wide, appressed to slightly divergent, with 2-6 florets;
rachillas scabridulous or pubescent, often more densely pubescent distally;
disarticulation above the glumes, beneath each floret.
subequal, entire, the basal 1-3 mm terete or subterete, indurate, without evident venation, moderately bowed out, glume bodies 8-16 mm long, 1-1.8 mm wide, linear-lanceolate, widening or parallel-sided above the base, (2)4-5(8)-veined, usually glabrous, occasionally hirsute, sometimes scabrous, margins firm, awns (10)15-20(25) mm, straight except the awns of the lowest spikelets occasionally contorted;
lemmas 6-12 mm, usually glabrous, sometimes scabrous, occasionally villous, awns (15)20-30 mm, straight;
paleas 6-10 mm, apices obtuse;
anthers 2-4 mm.
equal to unequal, 0.6-1 mm wide, lanceolate to narrowly ovate, usually green, flat or weakly keeled, keels eccentric, adaxial surfaces hairy, hairs often inconspicuous, hyaline margins sometimes widest distally, narrowing abruptly to the acute to acuminate apices;
lower glumes 8-11 mm, 3-veined, usually awned, awns to 3 mm;
upper glumes 10-13 mm, 3-5-veined, sometimes awn-tipped, awns to 0.3 mm;
lemmas 9-13 mm, glabrous, smooth to somewhat scabridulous distally, rounded on the back proximally, awned, awns 7-20 mm, straight or flexuous;
paleas subequal to the lemmas, keels finely and densely ciliate over most of their length, straight or slightly outwardly curved, tapering to the apices, apices about 0.2 mm wide;
anthers 2-3 mm.
usually mid-May to mid-June.
StH.
= 28.
= 28.
Elymus macgregorii
Elymus caninus
Elymus macgregorii grows in moist, deep, alluvial or residual, calcareous or other base-rich soils in woods and thickets, mostly east of the 100th Meridian in the contiguous United States. It used to be confused with E. glabriflorus (p. 296) or E. virginicus (p. 298), but it reaches anthesis about a month earlier than sympatric populations of these species. In most of its range, E. macgregorii has purplish black auricles; light brown auricles may be locally abundant, particularly in populations at the limits of its range.
Elymus macregorii hybridizes with several species, but especially E. virginicus and E. hystrix (p. 316) (Campbell 2000). Western plants often have smaller, more condensed spikes and distinctly villous leaves, suggesting a transition to E. virginicus var. jejunus (p. 300). Transitions to E. virginicus var. jejunus can also be recognized to the north, where the dates of anthesis are delayed, but even in Maine, E. macgregorii reaches anthesis about 10 days earlier than E. virginicus (Campbell and Haines 2002). Plants with villous lemmas grow at scattered locations; they have not been reported in distinct habitats, nor in large enough populations to warrant taxonomic recognition.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Elymus caninus is native to Eurasia; it is not known to be established in the Flora region. A.S. Hitchcock (1935, 1951) reported that it had been collected on ballast dumps in Portland, Oregon, but the specimens concerned belong to E. ciliaris (p. 336) and E. tsukushiensis (p. 336). Elymus caninus differs from E. ciliaris and E. tsukushiensis in having flatter glumes that are longer in relation to the lemmas, and palea keels that are straight or almost straight below the apices. Recent reports of its occurrence in the region reflect C.L. Hitchcock et al.'s (1969) treatment, in which E. caninus and E. trachycaulus were treated as conspecific subspecies. Because E. caninus is the older name, it is the correct name to use at the specific rank under such a treatment.
The hairs on the inside of the glumes are difficult to see. Nevertheless, this is the single most reliable morphological character for distinguishing Elymus caninus from all other species of Elymus in this treatment. Elymus caninus is most likely to be confused with awned plants of E. trachycaulus (p. 321). The two species also differ in their molecular characteristics, and in at least one chromosome interchange (Sun et al. 1998).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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