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Western Wetland Flora

Field Office Guide to Plant Species

Creeping Wild-rye
Elymus triticoides Buckley

JPG -- Species Photo JPG -- Distribution Map

Family: Grass (Gramineae)
Flowering: May-August
Field Marks: This grass is unlike most others in the genus Elymus by its very slender and short spikes, its long-creeping rhizomes, its usually awnless lemmas, and its paired spikelets 1/2-3/4 inch long.
Habitat: Meadows, damp ravines, often in salty areas.
Habit: Perennial herb from much branched rhizomes.
Stems: Upright, hollow, usually unbranched, up to 3 1/2 feet tall, smooth or slightly rough to the touch.
Leaves: Elongated, flat to rolled into a narrow tube, up to 1/3 inch wide, rough to the touch; ligules extremely short, with tiny cilia.
Flowers: Borne in spikelets, the spikelets usually paired and forming a slender spike up to 10 inches long; spikelets 3- to 8-flowered, 1/2-3/4 inch long; glumes slender-pointed, 1/6-1/3 inch long; lemmas less than 1/2 inch long, usually awnless
Sepals: 0.
Petals: 0.
Stamens: 3.
Pistils: Ovary superior.
Grains: Narrowly oblongoid, smooth except for a few hairs at the tip.
Notes: This plant produces viable seeds very irregularly. As a result, it has minimal value as food for wildlife

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Page Last Modified: Saturday, 02-Feb-2013 06:23:57 EST
Menlo Park, CA [caww54]