Flora of North America species comparison

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Elymus virginicus

Elymus texensis

common eastern wild-rye, Virginia wild rye, élyme de virginie

Texan wildrye, Texas wildrye
Habit Plants cespitose, not rhizomatous, sometimes glaucous, especially in the spikes. Plants cespitose, not rhizomatous, glaucous.
Culms

30-130 cm, erect to slightly decumbent;

nodes 4-9, concealed or exposed, usually glabrous, rarely pubescent.

70-110 cm, erect;

nodes 4-6, mostly exposed, glabrous.
Leaves

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.

evenly distributed;

sheaths glabrous or ciliate;

auricles to about 2 mm, pale to purplish brown;

ligules 1-2 mm, erose;

blades 2-9 mm wide, lax or somewhat involute, adaxial surfaces thinly scabrous to hirsute or densely pilose.
Spikes

(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.

9-20 cm long, 2-2.5 cm wide, erect to slightly nodding, with 2 spikelets per node;

internodes (5)7-15(22) mm long, 0.1-0.3 mm thick at the thinnest sections, glabrous except for the ciliolate margins, with slight dorsal angles and green lateral bands along the concave sides.
Spikelets

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.

13-20 mm excluding the awns, 20-40 mm including the awns, appressed, with 4-6(8) florets, lowest florets functional;

disarticulation above the glumes, beneath each floret.
Glumes

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.

subequal, 14-24 mm long including the undifferentiated awns, 0.1-0.3 mm wide, setaceous, entire, 0-1-veined, tapering from the base, glabrous, margins firm, awns more or less straight;

lemmas 8-12 mm, smooth, glabrous, awns 8-25 mm, straight, flexuous or slightly curving;

paleas 7-11 mm, obtuse or truncate;

anthers 4.5-6 mm.
Anthesis

usually mid-June to late July (mid-August).

in May.
2n

= 28.

= unknown.

Elymus virginicus

Elymus texensis
Distribution
from FNA
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
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
TX
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

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.)

Elymus texensis is known only from calcareous bluffs and hills in juniper woods and grassy areas on the Edwards Plateau of southwest Texas. It is known from only three collections and needs further study (Campbell 2002). It is similar to the Mexican species E. pringlei (see previous), but differs in its larger anthers, larger, less pubescent spikelets, and in its longer, glabrous rachis internodes with green lateral bands.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Spikelets hispidulous to villous-hirsute, usually glaucous; anthesis usually in early July to mid-August
var. intermedius
1. Spikelets usually glabrous or scabrous, glaucous or not; anthesis usually in mid-June to late July.
→ 2
2. Spikes partly sheathed; glumes 1-2.3 mm wide, strongly indurate and bowed out in the basal 2-4 mm; plants not glaucous, becoming yellowish brown or occasionally somewhat purplish at maturity
var. virginicus
2. Spikes exserted; glumes (0.5)0.7-1.5(1.8) mm wide, moderately indurate and bowed out in the basal 1-2 mm; plants usually glaucous, becoming yellowish or reddish brown at maturity.
→ 3
3. Culms usually 70-100 cm tall, with 6-8 nodes; blades 3-15 mm wide, flat; spikes 4-20 cm long, not strongly glaucous; glumes indurate only in the basal 1 mm
var. jejunus
3. Culms usually 30-80 cm tall, with 4-6 nodes; blades 2-9 mm wide, often becoming involute; spikes 3.5-11 cm long, often strongly glaucous; glumes usually indurate in the basal 1-2 mm
balophilus
Source FNA vol. 24, p. 298. FNA vol. 24, p. 312.
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. 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. 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. hoffmannii, 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. 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
Subordinate taxa
E. virginicus var. intermedius, E. virginicus var. jejunus, E. virginicus var. virginicus, balophilus
Name authority L. J.J.N. Campb.
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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