Elymus cinereus

Great basin wild-rye

Family: Poaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Great basin wild-rye is a native perennial grass found in the Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada, Sacramento Valley, Transverse Ranges, Great Basin, and Desert Mountains in streamsides, canyons, roadsides, sagebrush scrub, and open woodland at elevations up to 3,100 meters. Flowering from June to August, this grass produces pale greenish-tan spikelets in dense, spike-like clusters 9 to 19 centimeters long. Growing with robust, densely tufted stems 70 to 270 centimeters tall, it forms dense clumps with nodes that are especially hairy on the lower portions. Its leaves are strongly rolled or flat, 15 to 45 centimeters long and 3 to 12 millimeters wide, with a distinctive scabrous upper surface and small auricles up to 1.5 millimeters long. The spikelets feature stiff, awl-like glumes 8 to 18 millimeters long, with 3 to 7 florets per spikelet.

Habitat: Streamsides, canyons, roadsides, sagebrush scrub, open woodland

Bloom period: Jun-Aug

Elevation: < 3100 m

Bioregions: CaR, SN, ScV, TR, GB, DMtns

California counties: Nevada, Kern, Los Angeles, Inyo, San Bernardino, Mono, Alpine, Placer, Lassen, Modoc, Siskiyou, Shasta, Madera, Plumas

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.