Page authors: David Giblin, Don Knoke
Elymus repens
creeping wildrye
Specimens
Photos

Distribution: Occurring on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; Alaska to California, east across North America to the Atlantic Coast; circumboreal.

Habitat: Fields, roadsides, meadows, pastures, wastelots, and other disturbed open areas.

Flowers: June-August

Origin: Introduced from Eurasia

Growth Duration: Perennial

Conservation Status: Not of concern

Pollination: Wind

Description:
General:

Strong perennial with long, tough, wiry rhizomes, the culms erect to decumbent, up to 1 m. tall.

Leaves:

Sheaths open, auricles well-developed; ligules under 0.5 mm. long; blades flat, usually hairy, 5-10 mm. broad.

Flowers:

Inflorescence a stiff, erect spike 7-15 mm. long, the rachis not disarticulating; spikelets 5- to 6-flowered, 1 per node, crowded, about twice as long as the internodes; glumes lanceolate, awn-tipped, 5- to 7-nerved, 6-7 mm. long; lemmas slightly longer than the glumes, acute, awnless or with a straight awn up to 10 mm. long; paleas equaling the lemmas.

Fruits:

Utricle

Accepted Name:
Elymus repens (L.) Gould
Publication: MadroƱo 9: 127. 1947. 1947.

Synonyms & Misapplications:
Agropyron repens (L.) P. Beauv. [HC]
Agropyron repens (L.) P. Beauv. var. subulatum Roem. & Schult.
Agropyron vaillantianum (Wulfen & Schreb.) Trautv.
Elytrigia repens (L.) Desv. ex B.D. Jacks.
Elytrigia repens (L.) Desv. ex B.D. Jacks. var. vaillantiana (Wulfen & Schreb.) Prokudin, orthographic variant
Elytrigia vaillantiana (Wulfen & Schreb.) Beetle, orthographic variant
Triticum repens L.
Triticum vaillantianum Wulfen & Schreb.
Additional Resources:

PNW Herbaria: Specimen records of Elymus repens in the Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria database

WA Flora Checklist: Elymus repens checklist entry

OregonFlora: Elymus repens information

E-Flora BC: Elymus repens atlas page

CalPhotos: Elymus repens photos

27 photographs:
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