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early wild-rye

Hoffmann's wheatgrass, rs wheatgrass

Habit Plants cespitose, not rhizomatous, usually glaucous. Plants slightly to moderately rhizomatous.
Culms

40-120 cm, erect or slightly decumbent;

nodes 4-8, mostly exposed, glabrous.

54-135 cm, glabrous.

Leaves

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 absent or to 1 mm;

ligules 0.6-1 mm, truncate, erose;

blades 5-13 mm wide, flat to involute, abaxial surfaces smooth, glabrous, adaxial surfaces glabrous, veins closely spaced, all more or less equally prominent, smooth or scabrous.

Spikes

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.

10-50 cm long, 0.8-1.8 cm wide, with 1 spikelet per node, glabrous below the spikelets;

internodes 5-8 mm long, about 0.2 mm thick, about 0.3 mm wide, both surfaces hairy, hairs 0.2-0.4 mm.

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.

15-27 mm, appressed to ascending, with 5-7 florets;

rachillas scabridulous;

disarticulation above the glumes, beneath the florets.

Glumes

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, 5-11 mm long, 1.3-1.8 mm wide, stiff, lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, strongly rounded to keeled distally, keels inconspicuous and smooth on the proximal 1/3-1/2, conspicuous and with a few teeth distally, lateral veins inconspicuous, hyaline margins 0.1-0.2 mm wide, apices acuminate to awned, awns to 8 mm;

lemmas 7-12 mm, glabrous, smooth, apices unawned or awned, awns to 12 mm, straight;

paleas ciliate on the keels, apices about 0.6 mm wide;

anthers 4-7 mm.

Anthesis

usually mid-May to mid-June.

2n

= 28.

= 42.

Elymus macgregorii

Elymus hoffmannii

Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MO; MS; NC; ND; NE; NH; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SD; TN; TX; VA; VT; WI; WV; NS; ON
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[BONAP county map]
from FNA
ID
Discussion

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 hoffmannii was described from a breeding line of plants developed from seeds collected in Erzurum Province, Turkey by J.A. Hoffmann and R.J. Metzger (Jensen & Asay 1996). There is no information available about its native distribution. As indicated in the key, E. hoffmannii differs from E. repens (see previous) primarily in its evenly prominent, closely spaced leaf veins and, usually, in having longer awns.

The description of Elymus hoffmannii was explicitly written to encompass the cultivar 'NewHy' that is derived from an artificial cross between E. repens and Pseudoroegneria spicata (p. 281). Because of its morphological similarity to plants obtained from the Turkish seed, Jensen and Asay suggested that E. hoffmannii had a similar parentage. 'NewHy' was released as a cultivar in the 1980s. Its distribution within the Flora region is not known.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 24, p. 295. FNA vol. 24, p. 336.
Parent taxa Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Triticeae > Elymus Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Triticeae > Elymus
Sibling taxa
E. alaskanus, E. albicans, E. arizonicus, E. bakeri, E. canadensis, E. caninus, E. churchii, E. ciliaris, E. curvatus, E. dahuricus, E. diversiglumis, E. elymoides, E. glabriflorus, E. glaucus, E. hirsutus, E. hoffmannii, E. hystrix, E. interruptus, E. lanceolatus, E. macrourus, E. multisetus, E. pringlei, E. repens, E. riparius, E. scribneri, E. semicostatus, E. sibiricus, E. sierrae, E. stebbinsii, E. svensonii, E. texensis, E. trachycaulus, E. tsukushiensis, E. villosus, E. violaceus, E. virginicus, E. wawawaiensis, E. wiegandii, E. ×cayouetteorum, E. ×ebingeri, E. ×hansenii, E. ×palmerensis, E. ×pinalenoensis, E. ×pseudorepens, E. ×saundersii, E. ×yukonensis
E. alaskanus, E. albicans, E. arizonicus, E. bakeri, E. canadensis, E. caninus, E. churchii, E. ciliaris, E. curvatus, E. dahuricus, E. diversiglumis, E. elymoides, E. glabriflorus, E. glaucus, E. hirsutus, E. hystrix, E. interruptus, E. lanceolatus, E. macgregorii, E. macrourus, E. multisetus, E. pringlei, E. repens, E. riparius, E. scribneri, E. semicostatus, E. sibiricus, E. sierrae, E. stebbinsii, E. svensonii, E. texensis, E. trachycaulus, E. tsukushiensis, E. villosus, E. violaceus, E. virginicus, E. wawawaiensis, E. wiegandii, E. ×cayouetteorum, E. ×ebingeri, E. ×hansenii, E. ×palmerensis, E. ×pinalenoensis, E. ×pseudorepens, E. ×saundersii, E. ×yukonensis
Name authority R. Brooks & J.J.N. Campb. K.B. Jensen & Asay
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