Elymus canadensis L. - Canada Wild Rye


 

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Elymus canadensis - (image 1 of 3)

 

Taxonomy

Family: Poaceae

Habitat

Oak woods, prairies, sandy habitats; steambanks and moist to dry fields and meadows

Associates

In dry prairies it occurs with Adropogon gerardii, Phlox pilosa fuldiga, Silphium terebinthinaceum, Solidago rigida, Sorghastrum nutans.

Distribution

New Brunswick and Quebec west to AK, south to NC, TX and CA.

Morphology

Perennial, cool-season bunchgrass, to 1.5 m high. Glumes more than 2.5mm wide. Lemmas with long, undulate-divergent awns and larger paleas more than 9mm long. Spike often flexuous-nodding with age.

Notes

Flowers late June to early September

Wetland indicator: Facultative -

Sometimes called nodding wild rye. Can be used to provide early fuel to burn in prairie restorations.

References

Gleason, Henry A. and A. Cronquist. 1991. Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada. Second Ed.
The New York Botanical Garden. Bronx, NY

 

Swink, F. and G. Wilhelm. 1994. Plants of the Chicago Region.
Indiana Academy of Science. The Morton Arboretum. Lisle, Illinois.

 


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 Michael Hough © 2004