Elymus stebbinsii
Elymus macrourus
Parish wheatgrass, Stebbins' wheat grass, Stebbins' wildrye
northern wheatgrass, tuft wheatgrass
60-140 cm;
nodes glabrous or retrorsely pubescent.
35-100 cm, ascending to erect;
nodes sometimes pubescent.
glabrous;
auricles absent;
ligules 0.5-1 mm, truncate to rounded;
blades 3-10 mm wide, flat, usually glabrous, abaxial surfaces smooth or scabridulous, adaxial surfaces scabrous.
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.
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.
5-20 cm long, 0.4-0.8 cm wide, erect, with 1 spikelet per node;
internodes 7-8 mm long, about 0.5 mm wide, glabrous below the spikelets.
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.
12-20 mm, appressed, with 4-7 florets;
rachillas hairy, hairs 0.3-0.5 mm;
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.
6-10 mm long, 1/3-2/3 the length of the spikelets and to about 1/2 the length of the adjacent lemmas, 0.8-1.8 mm wide, widest at about midlength, lanceolate, flat, rounded, or symmetrically keeled, usually green or green tinged with purple, 3-4-veined, veins scabridulous, scabrous, or with hairs to 0.3 mm, usually glabrous elsewhere, margins subequal, about 0.3 mm wide, widest near midlength, apices acute, unawned or awned, awns to 1 mm;
lemmas 8-12 mm, hairy throughout or glabrous distally, hairs all alike, 0.2-0.3 mm, apices unawned or awned, awns to 7 mm, straight;
paleas subequal to the lemmas, tapering to the apices, apices about 0.8 mm wide;
anthers 1-2 mm.
= 28.
= 28.
Elymus stebbinsii
Elymus macrourus
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 macrourus grows on river banks and bars, lake shores, and hillsides in northwestern North America. Outside of North America, it grows across the Russian arctic, and extends south into the boreal forest. Plants growing on shifting river banks and bars often appear rhizomatous, as the lower internodes elongate in response to the disturbed substrate. Plants of E. macrourus differ from E. alaskanus (see next) in the shape of their glumes and their narrower glume margins, and from E. trachycaulus (p. 321) in their relatively short glumes and evidently hairy rachilla segments.
Three varieties of Elymus macrourus are recognized in Russian treatments. It is not clear to which, if any, of the Russian varieties North American plants belong. A circumboreal study is needed, using plants grown from seeds collected in the wild. Seeds available as E. macrourus through germplasm resources appear to be misidentified.
Elymus macrourus is one of the parents in both E. ×palmerensis (p. 340) and ×Elyhordeum pilosilemma (p. 284).
(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 |
CA
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
