Bearded wheatgrass, known also as awned wheatgrass, dogtooth 

 wheatgrass, and fibrous-rooted wheatgrass, is a smooth, slender and 

 erect-stemmed, light green bunchgrass from 2 to 4 feet high. It is 

 one of the five most widely distributed of our native western wheat- 



grasses, and ranges from Greenland to Alaska, California, and North 

 arolina. It occurs typically in light sandy soils in meadows, open, 

 grasslands, bottom lands, and on moist slopes, although often found 

 scatteringly on dry hillsides, bench lands, and in partial shade in 

 aspen and open coniferous timber or among shrubs. It is probably 

 most common in Montana and Wyoming where it is sometimes 

 locally abundant at elevations between 3,000 and 7,500 feet. In Colo- 

 rado it has been collected at an elevation of 11,700 feet, indicating 

 its wide altitudinal range. 



Bearded wheatgrass is a valuable forage plant, highly palatable 

 to all classes of livestock. The plants ordinarily produce an abun- 

 dance of relatively soft leaves which are especially palatable. 

 Naturally the bearded heads are not so palatable as those of the 

 unbearded species. New plants, established entirely by seed, are 

 ordinarily abundant, mature from August to October, and usually 

 are of good quality. Bearded wheatgrass is fairly resistajit to 

 grazing and, if afforded reasonable opportunity, will maintain itself 

 on the range. Because of its bunch habit of growth and the bearded 

 heads, it is not so important a hay plant as certain other species of 

 wheatgrass. 



Until comparatively recently the European Agropyron canwvum 

 was thought to occur naturally in this country, but current agros- 

 tological opinion is that the American plant is a distinct species, 

 A. 



