Scientific Name
Aegilops cylindrica Host (Synonyms: Triticum cylindricum; Cylindropyrum cylindricum)
Common Name(s)
Jointed goatgrass
Tribe / Family Name
Triticeae
Flowering Period
June to August
Symbol
AECY
Description
Jointed goatgrass is an introduced cool-season winter annual bunchgrass. Culms range from 14–50 cm in height. Its inflorescence is a narrowly cylindrical spike that is usually 6–11 cm long and shattering at maturity. Spikelets are 9–12 mm long, closely sunken within the rachis, one per node, and 2- to 5-flowered. Glumes are subequal, 7–10 mm long, coriaceous, scabrid, asymmetrical, unequally 9- to 13-nerved, and awned (awns on lower glumes 2–5 mm long and often toothed at the tips; awns on upper glumes 30–60 mm long, and usually flanked by two lateral teeth). Lemmas are 8–11 mm long, asymmetrical, 5-nerved, and mucronate or awned (if awned, awns on lower lemmas usually 1–3 mm long; awns on upper lemmas usually 40–80 mm long, and flanked by two teeth). Sheaths are open, glabrous, and ciliate along the margins. Auricles are short and ciliate. Ligules are short (usually 0.2–0.5 mm long), membranous, truncate, and glabrous. Blades are 3–15 cm long, up to 5 mm wide, flat, ascending, usually inrolled, and glabrous or, more often, hirsute with hairs evenly spaced along the margins.
General Info
Jointed goatgrass can be found in dry waste places, along roadsides and railroad tracks, in cultivated fields, foothills, plains, and montane sites.
Similar Species
Jointed goatgrass is not easily confused with other grasses due to its very distinctive cylindrical constructed seed heads. However, since jointed goatgrass and winter wheat are genetically related and can hybridize, it makes it difficult to distinguish these two species from each other, especially during the younger stages of growth. Its evenly spaced hairs along the leaf margins, sheaths, and auricles may help separate it from winter wheat.
Picture of growth habit.
Close-up picture of cylindrical spike inflorescence.
Close-up picture of spikelet.
Close-up up of short, membranous ligule.
Illustration of jointed goatgrass. USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Hitchcock, A.S. (rev. A. Chase). 1950. <i>Manual of the grasses of the United States</i>. USDA Miscellaneous Publication No. 200. Washington, DC.