254 MISC. PUBLICATION 200, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



FIGURE 493. Elymus 

 glaucus, X 1. (Chase 

 5150, Idaho.) 



and Arkansas (fig. 494). Exceedingly variable, the commonest form is 

 loosely tufted, with lax blades 10 to 15 mm wide and somewhat nod- 

 ding spike, but plants with narrower blades and stiff spikes are 

 frequent, the extreme form having been differentiated as E. angusti- 

 folius Davy. The original specimen described by Buckley is a rather 

 small plant intermedi- 

 ate in blades and spike. 

 ELYMUS GLAUCUS var. 

 JEPSONI Davy. 

 Sheaths and blades 

 pubescent. 01 Brit- 

 ish Columbia to Cali- 

 fornia; Montana. 



13. Elymus virescens 

 Piper. (Fig. 495.) Re- 

 sembling E. glaucus 

 and nearly as variable 

 in habit, often decum- 

 bent at base; sheaths 

 from glabrous to re- 

 trorsely pubescent, 

 blades 2 to 12 mm 

 wide, glabrous to 

 harsh- puberulent ; 

 spike 5 to 15 cm 

 long, dense, spike- 

 lets imbricate ; 

 glumes flat, 1 to 2 

 mm wide, strongly 

 nerved, pointed or 

 awn- tipped; lem- 

 mas glabrous to scabrous, 

 barely awn-tipped or with 

 an awn 1 to 4 mm long. 

 01 Moist woods, south- 

 ern Alaska to California. 

 14. Elymus hirsutus 

 Presl. (Fig. 496.) Culms 

 solitary or in small tufts, 

 50 to 140 cm tall, rather 

 weak; blades flat, lax, 4 

 to 10 mm wide, scabrous ; 

 spike drooping, mostly 

 loose, the rachis exposed; 



FIGURE 495. Elymus spikelets mostly about 15 mm long; glumes] about 

 1 mm wide, strongly nerved, awned; lemmas sparsely 

 long-hirsute along the margin toward the summit, 

 sometimes coarsely pubescent on the back, the slender awn flexuous 

 or divergent, 1.5 to 2 cm long. Ot Moist woods or open ground, 

 Alaska to Oregon. 



15. Elymus macounii Vasey. MACOUN WILD-RYE. (Fig. 497.) 

 Culms densely tufted, erect, slender, 50 to 100 cm tall; sheaths gla- 

 brous or rarely pubescent; blades erect, rather firm, subin volute, 

 usually scabrous on both surfaces, 10 to 20 cm long, mostly 2 to 5 mm 



FIGURE 494. Distribution of 

 Elymus glaucus. 



FIGURE 496. Elymus hirsutus, X 5. 

 (Thompson 7332, Wash.) 



virescens, X 

 (Flett, Wash.) 



