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Western Wetland Flora

Field Office Guide to Plant Species

Basin Wild-rye
Elymus cinereus Scribn. & Merrill

JPG -- Species Photo JPG -- Distribution Map

Family: Grass (Gramineae)
Flowering: June-August
Field Marks: This grass forms large clumps and usually does not produce rhizomes. The glumes are awn-like and not broadened above the base. There are 3-6 spikelets at each node in the inflorescence. The leaves are 1/4-3/4 inch wide.
Habitat: Along streams, in meadows, along roads, edge of woods, sagebrush areas.
Habit: Clump-forming perennial grass, usually without rhizomes.
Stems: Upright, unbranched, stout, hollow, up to 6 feet tall, smooth or rough-hairy.
Leaves: Elongated, 1/4-3/4 inch wide, hairy; ligules up to 1/3 inch long, membranaceous.
Flowers: Borne in spikelets, with 3-6 spikelets at a node, forming a spike up to 8 inches long, up to 1/2 inch broad; glumes awn-like, not broadened above the base; lemma usually hairy, with or without an awn up to 1/4 inch long.
Sepals: 0.
Petals: 0.
Stamens: 3.
Pistils: Ovary superior, smooth.
Grains: Narrowly oblongoid, hairy at the tip.
Notes: This grass may be browsed by livestock. It is a good soil stabilizer and is used in new roadcuts. Black ergot, a fungus, is often present in the spikelets and can prove harmful to livestock.

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Page Last Modified: Saturday, 02-Feb-2013 06:23:56 EST
Menlo Park, CA [caww55]