CRESTED WHEATGRASS 



By H. L. Westover, principal agronomist, and George A. Rogler, assistant 

 agronomist, Division of Forage Crops and Diseases, Bureau of Plant Industry x 



Introduction Into the United States 



Crested wheatgrass (Agropyron cristaium Gaertn.) is a hardy, 

 drought-resistant perennial bunch grass, native to the cold, dry plains 

 of Russia and Siberia. The first recorded introduction into the 

 United States was made through the efforts of the United States 

 Department of Agriculture in 1898, but the possibilities of the grass 

 did not attract much attention until after 1915, when it was sown in 

 the northern Great Plains, where it proved especially adapted. 



Description and Characteristics 



Crested wheatgrass is closely related botanically to slender wheat- 

 grass (A. -pauciflorum (Schwein.) Hitchc.) and bluestem, or western 

 wheatgrass (A. smithii Rydb.), both native to the northern Great 

 Plains. It is a typical bunch grass, differing in this respect from 

 western wheatgrass and bromegrass (Bromus inermis Leyss.), both of 

 which spread bv underground rootstocks and tend to develop a uniform 

 turf. 



Two distinct strains of crested wheatgrass, the Standard and the 

 Fairway, are grown commercially at the present time. The taller 

 Standard strain is the more generally planted in the United States 

 and is represented by a wide range of types. Some plants are leafy 

 and fine-stemmed, whereas others produce few leaves and have stiff 

 and coarse stems. Head types are extremely variable, some being lax 

 and others dense. The seeds of some plants have pronounced awns, 

 whereas those of others are awnless or nearly so. Strains now in 

 process of development have extremely plump, awnless seeds with a 

 test weight of over 30 pounds per bushel. Seeds with long awns are 

 objectionable, as they have a tendency to hang together and do not 

 feed readily through the drill. The seedlings of the Fairway strain 

 are smaller than those of the Standard strain, and the plants are lower 

 growing and slightly more leafy. The seed is also smaller and has 

 pronounced awns. The Fairway strain has been used to some extent 

 as a dry -land lawn grass, but it has a tendency to become bunchy as 

 the plants become older. In western Canada, where the Fairway 

 strain was developed, it is used for all purposes more generally than is 

 the Standard strain. 



Crested wheatgrass has a louger productive life than slender 

 wheatgrass or bromegrass and under northern Plains conditions has 

 yielded well for 15 to 20 years or more. In comparable tests brome- 



lThe writers are indebted to members of the staff of the Division of Dry Land Agriculture as follows: 

 J. T. Sarvis, Mandan, N. Dak., Leroy Moomaw, Dickinson, X. Dak., M. A. Bell, Woodward, Okla. 

 (formerly of Havre, Mont.), and R. M. Williams, Moccasin, Mont., for suggestions in the preparation of 

 this leaflet. 



Issued July 1934; revised January 1941. 



327935°— 41 



