Thickspike wheatgrass, known also as downy, fuzzyhead, northern, 

 small, thickstalk, and Yukon wheatgrass, is a somewhat turfed 

 perennial with extensively creeping underground rootstocks. The 

 species, as now understood by prevalent botanical opinion, has a 

 wider range than most other wheatgrasses, occurring from Hudson 

 Bay to Alaska, northeastern California, southern Colorado, Nebraska, 

 and the shores of Lakes Superior, Michigan, and Huron. It pre- 

 fers sandy soils, and is found on the lower dry plains in central 

 Idaho and up to at least 10,000 feet elevation in the Wasatch Moun- 

 tains. It also occurs on the drier hillsides, exposed flats and ridges, 

 and on benchlands and well-drained meadows. The species seldom 

 forms pure stands of any great extent although it is often dominant 

 or even appears in practically pure stands over small local areas. 



Although the fineness of its herbage and its characteristically low 

 stature render thickspike wheatgrass more palatable to sheep than 

 some of the other wheatgrasses of coarser habit, its tendency to be- 

 come wiry as the season advances somewhat lowers this palatability. 

 However, it furnishes at least fair forage for all classes of live- 

 stock, and is worthy of extensive reseeding trial on range lands. 1 



The long-creeping underground rootstocks of this wheatgrass en- 

 able it to withstand heavy grazing and considerable trampling. 

 Once established, thickspike wheatgrass plants, if conservatively 

 grazed, normally continue to spread and thicken their stand. 



Sampson 2 has called attention to the fact that, on the higher 

 ranges of the Wasatch Mountains of Utah, thickspike wheatgrass 

 is the most common and typical of the turfed species of wheatgrass. 

 The chief mass of its roots there is confined to the upper 8 inches 

 of soil, but is so densely matted after the plants are well established 

 that moisture percolation through them is exceedingly slow and the 

 ingress of other plants with deeper root habits is prevented. The 

 average maximum root depth of matured and well-developed, thick- 

 spike wheatgrass plants is about 15 inches. 



1 Forsling, C. L., and Dayton, W. A. ARTIFICIAL RESEEDING ON WESTERN MOUNTAIN 

 RANGE LANDS. U. S. Dept. Agr. Circ. 178, 48 pp., illus. 1931. 



3 Sampson, A. W. PLANT SUCCESSION IN RELATION TO RANGE MANAGEMENT. U. S. Dept. 

 Agr. Bull. 791, 76 pp., illus. 1919. 



