Elytrigia smithii (Rydb.) Á.Löve
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Authority
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.
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Family
Poaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Strongly rhizomatous, usually glaucous, 3–8 dm; lvs flat, becoming involute in drying, 2–4.5 mm wide, the upper surface scabrous and sometimes pilose, strongly ridged and furrowed, with ca 7–14 furrows across the width; spikes stiff, erect, 5–15 cm, the middle internodes 5–10+ mm; spikelets 12–24 mm, mostly 4–8-fld, sometimes some of them in pairs; glumes slender and rigid, gradually tapering from below the middle and passing imperceptibly into a short awn-tip; lemmas 8–11+ mm, glabrous to sometimes densely short-hairy, awn-pointed or with an awn to 5 mm; glumes and lemmas only faintly veined; anthers 2–4.5 mm; 2n=56. Dry, open places, often in alkaline bottomlands; widespread in w. U.S., e. to Minn., Io., and Mo., and casually to N.Y. and Ky. (Agropyron s.; Pascopyrum s.) Thought to be an alloploid of E. dasystachya and Leymus triticoides.
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Common Names
western wheatgrass