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| Leymus cinereus (Scribn. & Merr.) A. Löve | Species Image Gallery (opens in a new window) |
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| TAXONOMY | |||||||||||||||
| Family: | Poaceae | ||||||||||||||
| Genus: | Leymus | ||||||||||||||
| Species Synonyms: | Aneurolepidium piperi (Bowden) Baum Elymus cinereus Scribn. & Merr. Elymus cinereus var. pubens (Piper) C.L. Hitchc. Elymus condensatus var. pubens Piper Elymus piperi Bowden |
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| Common Names: | giant wildrye basin wildrye |
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| DISTRIBUTION | |||||||||||||||
| Canada: | British Columbia – southern Alberta – southern Saskatchewan | ||||||||||||||
| Saskatchewan: | southern Saskatchewan; Cypress Hills; Frenchman River Valley – Indian Head | ||||||||||||||
| Ecoregion: | Cypress Upland, Aspen Parkland | ||||||||||||||
| HABITAT | |||||||||||||||
| Saskatchewan: | stream shores and open grassy or brushy slopes | ||||||||||||||
| Canada: | dry prairies, plains, and sand hills | ||||||||||||||
| RARITY STATUS | |||||||||||||||
| Provincial
Status According to Harms (2003): |
Threatened |
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| Nature Conservancy Status: | G5 S1S2 |
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| Saskatchewan
Species at Risk Status: |
None |
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| COSEWIC Status: | None |
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| Giant wildrye is threatened because it is rare in Saskatchewan. It is restricted to one general region in the province and most populations are small. Possible threats have been identified for this species. | |||||||||||||||
| SPECIES DESCRIPTION | |||||||||||||||
| Height: | 70 – 270 cm | ||||||||||||||
| Roots: | fibrous; rhizomes, if present, short and thick | ||||||||||||||
| Stems: | strongly tufted, robust, solid, usually bright green, lowest nodes often hairy | ||||||||||||||
| Leaves: | exceeded by the inflorescence, 15 – 45 cm long, 5 – 12 mm wide, flat, hairless above, rough hairy below, strongly 11 – 25-nerved; sheaths hairless or hairy; ligules 1.5 – 8 mm long, membranous; ear-like lobes at the base of the leaf present but poorly developed, to 1.5 mm long | ||||||||||||||
| Inflorescence: | unbranched, 10 – 29 cm long, 1 – 2 cm wide, erect, dense, often interrupted below | ||||||||||||||
| Spikelets: | 2 – 7 per node, 9 – 25 mm long, 3 – 7-flowered | ||||||||||||||
| Florets: | glumes 1 – 2 cm long, narrowly triangular, stiff, boat-shaped, awn-pointed; lemmas 6.5 – 12 mm long, hairless or slightly hairy, awns 1 – 3 mm long; paleas about the same size as the lemmas | ||||||||||||||
| Fruits: | grain | ||||||||||||||
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