Picture of growth habit (immature). Photo by Cody Andrews.

Scientific Name

Leymus triticoides (Buckley) Pilg. (Synonyms: Elymus triticoides)

Common Name(s)

Beardless wildrye, creeping wildrye

Tribe / Family Name

Triticeae

Flowering Period

June to July

Symbol

LETR5

Description

Beardless wildrye is a native, cool to warm season perennial grass that is strongly rhizomatous. It is typically tall and erect, with slender green to blue-green leaves that stand away from the stems at an obvious angle. Culms grow from 45-130 cm tall, 1.8-3 mm thick, and are generally solitary or with a few together. Leaf blades are somewhat stiff, flat to inrolled, 10-35 cm long and 2.5-6 mm wide with a finely scabrous upper surface. Inflorescence is a narrow spike 5-20 cm long, 5-15 mm wide, becoming curved after maturity. Spikelets are 10-22 mm long, usually 2 per rachis node (but varying from 1-3), 3- to 7-flowered, and awned (awns tiny, up to 3 mm). Glumes are 5-16 mm long and awl-like; lemma 5-12 mm long and awn-tipped. Auricles generally <1 mm. Ligules are 0.2-1.3 mm long, membranous, truncate, and erose.

General Info

This grass grows on mostly heavy soils in riparian areas, bottomlands, valleys, foothill, mountain flats, and meadows from coastal marshes to the High Sierra. It prefers good soils but is adapted to alkaline and saline soils and is tolerant of high summer temperatures and prolonged periods of inundation. It is a good rangeland grass for grazing, and is used to stabilize waterways due to its soil-retaining rhizome network.

Similar Species

Beardless wildrye may be confused with western wheatgrass (Pascopyrum smithii) due to their similar habitat and growth habit (OSU Extension Service, 1979). It can be distinguished from western wheatgrass by the double spikelets at each node (P. smithii usually has only one spikelet per node). Beardless wildrye also lacks the minute saw-toothed edge found on the leaves of western wheatgrass, and it is generally taller than western wheatgrass. The glumes of beardless wildrye are narrow, short and acute, with only a single vein, while those of western wheatgrass are lanceolate, long-tapering, and have several veins (Barkworth and Atkins, 1984).