Elymus wiegandii
Elymus alaskanus
northern riverbank wildrye, Wiegand's wild-rye, élyme de Wiegand
Alaska wild rye, alaskan wheatgrass, ellisia
100-180(220) cm, erect;
nodes 9-16, mostly concealed by the leaf sheaths, glabrous.
20-90 cm, sometimes decumbent at the base, ascending to erect above;
nodes usually pubescent, sometimes glabrous.
evenly distributed;
sheaths usually glabrous, occasionally villous, often reddish brown;
auricles 1-3 mm, brown;
ligules to 1 mm;
blades (8)10-20(24) mm wide, flat, lax, dark green, adaxial surfaces usually thinly pilose, with weakly spreading hairs on the veins at least near the margins, sometimes villous or glabrous.
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.
10-30 cm long, 3-5 cm wide, pendent, the bases often barely exserted, with 2 spikelets per node;
internodes 5-8(12) mm long, 0.2-0.3 mm thick at the thinnest sections, usually pubescent beneath the spikelets.
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.
12-20 mm, divergent, with (3)4-6(7) florets, lowest florets functional;
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.
equal or subequal, 12-30 mm including the often undifferentiated awns, the basal 0.5-1 mm subterete and slightly indurate, glume bodies 7-12 mm long, (0.2)0.4-0.9(1.1) mm wide, linear-setiform, entire, widening or parallel-sided above the base, 1-3(5)-veined, glabrous, hispidulous or villous, especially near the margins, margins firm, awns (5)8-15(18) mm, straight or flexuous;
lemmas 10-15 mm, usually uniformly appressed-villous, rarely scabrous-hirtellous or glabrous, awns 15-25(30) mm, moderately to strongly outcurving;
paleas 9-14 mm, narrowly truncate, minutely bidentate;
anthers 2-3.5 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.
from mid-July to early August.
= 28.
= 28.
Elymus wiegandii
Elymus alaskanus
Elymus wiegandii grows in moist or damp, rich, alluvial soil, especially on sandy river terraces and in woods and thickets, primarily from Saskatchewan through much of the Great Lakes region to Nova Scotia and Connecticut. It has abnormal neocentric chromosomes with meiotic irregularities that appear to limit the fertility of its hybrids, and even some crosses within the species (Vilkomerson 1950). It may be derived from hybrids between E. canadensis (p. 303) and perhaps E. riparius (p. 302). The latter species is similar to E. wiegandii and overlaps with it in range and habitat within the Great Lakes region, where there are a few plants that appear to be hybrids between the two. Plants with scabrous-hirtellous or glabrous lemmas (E. wiegandii f. calvescens Fernald) are known from Maine and New Hampshire.
Elymus wiegandii is often confused with sympatric E. canadensis and E. diversiglumis (p. 316), but it has a distinctive robust, broad-leaved habit. It is intermediate between the two in spike density and glume development. Occasional plants with glabrous leaves and less pendent spikes suggest introgression from E. canadensis, but artificial crosses produced no fertile Fj plants (Church 1958).
(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. 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 |
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