E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Flora of British Columbia

General:
Perennial, tufted grass from fibrous roots, sometimes with short rhizomes; stems 30-120 cm tall, erect, the nodes exposed, smooth.

Leaves:
Sheaths smooth or sometimes hairy; blades 2-5 mm wide, flat to in-rolled, somewhat concentrated around the base of the stems, ear-shaped lobes lacking at the leaf-bases or if present, to 0.5 mm long; ligules up to 0.5 mm long, blunt, entire.

Flowers:
Inflorescence spikelike, 4-25 cm long, 4-10 mm wide, with 1 spikelet per node; spikelets 9-16 mm long, 2 times as long as the internodes, with 3 to 5 (7) florets; glumes unequal, 6-12 mm long, 3/4 to as long as the lemmas, the tips pointed or shortly awned; lemmas 6-13 mm long, smooth near the base and rough above, the tips pointed to awned, the awns up to 40 mm long; anthers 0.8-3 mm long.

Notes:
Two subspecies are recognized in BC:

1. Lemmas awned, the awns 15-40 mm long, longer than the bodies................. ssp. subsecundus (Link) A. & D. Love

1. Lemmas unawned or awned, the awns less than 13 mm long, shorter than the bodies................ ssp. trachycaulus.

The hybrid Elymus x macounii Vasey (Elyhordeum x macounii [Vasey] Barkw. & D. R. Dewey, Elymordeum x macounii [Vasey] Barkw.) is sporadic in BC. It is mainly a hybrid between E. trachycaulus and Hordeum jubatum.