Elymus glaucus Buckley
blue wildrye
Poaceae (Grass family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
blue wildrye
Poaceae (Grass family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
SUBTAXA PRESENT IN BC
Species Information
General:
Perennial, bluish, tufted grass from fibrous roots or short rhizomes; stems 30-180 cm tall, erect or slightly decumbent at the base, the nodes exposed and often covered with dense short hairs.
Leaves:
Sheaths smooth to rough, white-hairy close to the base, often purplish at the stem-base; blades 4-13 mm wide, lax, flat or slightly in-rolled, bluish-green, rough on the nerves, sometimes hairy, ear-shaped lobes at the leaf-bases up to 2.5 mm long, often purple; ligules up to 1 mm long, entire or ragged.
Flowers:
Inflorescence a spike 5-21 cm long, 0.5-2 cm wide, erect to slightly nodding, rarely pendent, (1) 2 to 3 spikelets per node; spikelets 8-25 mm long, purplish, with bases often overlapping, with 2 to 4 (6) fertile florets; glumes 9-14 mm long, unawned or awned, the awns 1-5 mm long; lemmas 9-14 mm long, smooth to short-hairy at least on the nerves, the awns 1-25 mm long, straight to slightly curved; anthers 1.5-3.5 mm long.
Notes:
Two subspecies occur in BC:
1. Lemmas awnless or awned, the awns less than 5 mm long................... ssp. virescens (Piper) Gould
1. Lemmas awned, the awns greater than 5 mm long.................... ssp. glaucus
Illustration
If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.
Illustration Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia
USDA Species Characteristics
Flower Colour:
Yellow
Blooming Period:
Early Summer
Fruit/Seed characteristics:
Colour: Brown
Present over the Summer
Source: The USDA
Ecology
Ecological Framework for Elymus glaucus
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from
original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range.
(Updated August, 2013)
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from
original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range.
(Updated August, 2013)
| Site Information |
Value / Class |
||
|
Avg |
Min |
Max |
|
| Elevation
(metres) |
975 | 0 | 2450 |
| Slope
Gradient (%) |
17 | 0 | 230 |
|
Aspect (degrees) |
174 | 0 | 360 |
| Soil
Moisture Regime (SMR) [0 - very xeric; 4 - mesic; 8 - hydric] |
4 | 0 | 8 |
| Modal
Nutrient Regime
Class |
C | ||
| #
of field plots species was recorded in: |
3308 | ||
| Modal
BEC Zone Class |
SBS | ||
|
All BEC Zones (# of stations/zone) species was recorded in |
AT(12), BAFA(2), BG(14), BWBS(132), CDF(75), CWH(234), ESSF(536), ICH(472), IDF(568), IMA(4), MH(3), MS(327), PP(52), SBPS(50), SBS(667), SWB(12) | ||
|
Source:
Klinkenberg 2013
|
|||
Habitat and Range
Moist to dry slopes, meadows and open forests in the lowland and montane to subalpine zones; ssp. glaucus - common in S BC, less frequent north of 55 degrees N; ssp. virescens - infrequent in coastal BC, rare E of the Coast-Cascade Mountains; ssp. glaucus - N to SE AK and YT, E to ON and S to NY, IL, AR, TX, NM, AZ and CA; ssp. virescens - S to CA.Synonyms
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Elymus glaucus var. jepsonii Burtt Davy
Elymus glaucus var. tenuis Vasey