Elymus stebbinsii
Elymus alaskanus
Parish wheatgrass, Stebbins' wheat grass, Stebbins' wildrye
Alaska wild rye, alaskan wheatgrass, ellisia
60-140 cm;
nodes glabrous or retrorsely pubescent.
20-90 cm, sometimes decumbent at the base, ascending to erect above;
nodes usually pubescent, sometimes glabrous.
evenly distributed;
sheaths glabrous or pubescent;
auricles usually present, 0.5-2 mm;
ligules 0.3-3.5 mm, truncate to acute, sometimes long-ciliate;
blades 4-6.5 mm wide, flat or the margins involute, straight.
sometimes basally concentrated;
sheaths smooth or scabrous, glabrous or pilose;
auricles absent or to 0.5 mm;
ligules 0.2-1 mm, erose, ciliolate;
blades 3-7 mm wide, flat, both surfaces smooth, scabrous, or pubescent.
15-31 cm long, 0.4-1.5 cm wide including the awns, 0.4-0.8 cm wide excluding the awns, erect, with 1 spikelet per node;
internodes 9-27 mm long, 1-1.3 mm wide, glabrous, smooth.
3.5-14 cm long, 0.5-0.8 cm wide, erect or nodding distally, usually with 1 spikelet per node, occasionally with 2 at the lower nodes;
internodes 3-10 mm long, 0.5-0.8 mm wide, mostly glabrous and smooth, edges scabrous or ciliate.
13-29 mm long, from shorter than to almost twice as long as the internodes, 2.5-5 mm wide, appressed, with 5-7 florets;
rachillas glabrous;
disarticulation above the glumes and beneath each floret.
9-15(20) mm, 2-5 times longer than the internodes, appressed, with 3-6 florets, rachillas hispidulous;
disarticulation above the glumes, beneath each floret.
subequal, 7.5-12 mm long, 1.2-1.5 mm wide, lanceolate, widest at about mid-length, flat or rounded on the back, 5-veined, veins smooth, scabrous or just the midvein scabridulous, margins widest at about midlength, apices acute, unawned;
lemmas 9-12 mm, glabrous, sometimes scabrous, acute, unawned or awned, awns to 28 mm, straight;
paleas subequal to the lemmas, tapering, apices 0.2-0.3 mm wide;
anthers (3.5)4-7 mm.
4-8 mm long, (1.2)1.5-2 mm wide, 1/3-2/3 as long as the adjacent lemmas, oblanceolate to obovate, flat, usually purplish, glabrous or hairy, hairs 0.3-0.5 mm, margins unequal, the widest margin 0.4-1 mm wide, both margins widest above the middle, apices unawned or awned, awns to 1 mm;
lemmas 7-11 mm, glabrous or hairy, sometimes scabridulous, sometimes more densely hairy distally, hairs 0.2-0.6 mm, all alike, apices unawned or awned, awns to 7 mm, straight;
paleas subequal to the lemmas, keels straight below the apices;
anthers 1-2 mm.
= 28.
= 28.
Elymus stebbinsii
Elymus alaskanus
Elymus stebbinsii is restricted to California, where it grows on dry slopes, chaparral, and wooded areas, at elevations below 1600 m. It differs from other Elymus species primarily in its combination of long anthers and solitary spikelets. It is often confused with E. glaucus (p. 306) and E. trachycaulus (p. 321) with solitary spikelets. It differs from both in its longer anthers, and from most representatives of E. glaucus in its acute, but unawned, glumes.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Elymus alaskanus extends across the high arctic of North America to extreme eastern Russia. This treatment interprets E. alaskanus as having relatively short glumes, in accordance with its treatment by Hulten (1968). Large specimens resemble E. macrourus (see previous), but differ in the shape of their glumes and in their wider glume margins. Elymus alaskanus differs from E. trachycaulus (p. 321) in its greater cold tolerance and the distal widening of its glume margins. There is some intergradation, particularly with E. violaceus (p. 324) and E. trachycaulus, but these species have longer glumes. Moreover, in western North America, E. violaceus is restricted to rocky habitats at or above treeline, whereas E. alaskanus is often associated with valleys and flat areas. Reports of its extending to New Mexico are based on the inclusion of high-elevation forms of E. trachycaulus.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Lemmas awned, awns 8-28 mm long; lower leaf sheaths rarely pubescent; spikelets 13-22 mm long | subsp. septentrionalis |
1. Lemmas unawned or with awns to 8(12) mm long; lower leaf sheaths pubescent or glabrous; spikelets 17-29 mm long | subsp. stebbinsii |
1. Glumes glabrous, scabrous or sparsely hairy, hairs to about 0.2 mm long; lemmas glabrous or with hairs to about 0.2 mm long | subsp. alaskanus |
1. Glumes and lemmas densely hairy, hairs 0.2-0.5 mm long | subsp. hyperarcticus |
CA
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
BC
OR
Flora NW
MI Flora
PNW Herbaria
