General:
Annual herb from fibrous roots; stems bent at the base, short-hairy, 10-25 cm tall.
Leaves:
Sheaths open; blades flat, 2-3 mm wide, stiff-hairy above and below; ear-shaped lobes present at the leaf-bases; ligules about 0.5 mm long, fringed.
Flowers:
Inflorescence a strongly flattened, egg-shaped to elliptical spike, 1.5-2.5 cm long; spikelets 7-15, closely crowded, broadly spreading, 10-15 mm long; glumes lanceolate, 10-15 mm long (including awns), the awns 2-5 mm long; lemmas 10-16 mm long, short stiff-hairy, lower ones short-hairy below and smooth above, other lemmas smooth, awned, the awns 4-5 mm long; palea keels prolonged into 2 toothlike appendages.
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
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Agropyron orientale (L.) Roem. & Schult.
Secale orientale L.