Index / Search / Arrhenatherum elatius
§1 Plant
Arrhenatherum elatius (L.) P. Beauv. ex J. Presl & C. Presl
vernacular tall oatgrass — species · Poaceae
§2Habit & range
Habit and range
- Growth habit
- Graminoid
- Duration
- Perennial
- Group
- Monocot
- Family
- Poaceae Barnhart
- Genus
- Arrhenatherum
§2a
Native status, by region
- AK Alaska Introduced
- CAN Canada Introduced
- HI Hawaii Introduced
- L48 Lower 48 States Introduced
§2b
County-level range
· 314 counties across 21 states/territories§3Cultivation specs · USDA
Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.
§3a
Tolerances
- Drought
- Medium
- Shade
- Medium
- Moisture use
- Medium
- Fire
- High
- Salinity
- Medium
- Anaerobic
- None
- CaCO₃
- High
- Hedging
- None
§3b
Climate & soil
- Cold tolerance
- -38 °F minimum
- Frost-free days
- 90 min.
- Precipitation
- 32–50 in/yr
- pH range
- 5–7
- Root depth
- 14 in min.
- Fertility need
- Low
- Soil texture
- coarse, medium, fine
§3c
Form & growth
- Growth form
- Bunch
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Mature height
- 4 ft
- Foliage texture
- Coarse
- Foliage colour
- Green
- Porosity (summer)
- Moderate
- Porosity (winter)
- Porous
- Flower colour
- Yellow
- Fruit colour
- Brown
- Fire resistant
- No
- N fixation
- None
- Toxicity
- None
§3d
Reproduction
- Bloom period
- Early Summer
- Seed abundance
- High
- Seed begins
- Spring
- Seed ends
- Summer
- Spread rate
- Moderate
- Stratify
- No
- Seeds / lb
- 189,120
- Propagation
- seed
§3e
Use & availability
- Commercial availability
- No Known Source
- Nursery stock
- No
- Browse palatability
- Medium
- Graze palatability
- High
- Palatable, human
- No
- Protein potential
- Medium
- Lumber
- No
- Christmas tree
- No
§4Counties, by state
Recorded in 314 counties across 21 states/territories.
Alabama view state ↗ 3 I ▾
Alaska view state ↗ 2 I ▾
Arizona view state ↗ 2 I ▾
Arkansas view state ↗ 5 I ▾
Delaware view state ↗ 1 I ▾
District of Columbia view state ↗ 1 I ▾
Georgia view state ↗ 3 I ▾
Kentucky view state ↗ 21 I ▾
Louisiana view state ↗ 3 I ▾
Maine view state ↗ 9 I ▾
Massachusetts view state ↗ 12 I ▾
Montana view state ↗ 9 I ▾
New Hampshire view state ↗ 5 I ▾
New Jersey view state ↗ 16 I ▾
New York view state ↗ 46 I ▾
- Albany 36001
- Allegany 36003
- Bronx 36005
- Broome 36007
- Cattaraugus 36009
- Cayuga 36011
- Chautauqua 36013
- Chenango 36017
- Columbia 36021
- Delaware 36025
- Dutchess 36027
- Erie 36029
- Genesee 36037
- Greene 36039
- Jefferson 36045
- Livingston 36051
- Madison 36053
- Monroe 36055
- Nassau 36059
- New York 36061
- Oneida 36065
- Onondaga 36067
- Ontario 36069
- Orange 36071
- Oswego 36075
- Otsego 36077
- Putnam 36079
- Queens 36081
- Rensselaer 36083
- Richmond 36085
- Rockland 36087
- Saratoga 36091
- Schenectady 36093
- Schoharie 36095
- Steuben 36101
- Suffolk 36103
- Sullivan 36105
- Tioga 36107
- Tompkins 36109
- Ulster 36111
- Warren 36113
- Washington 36115
- Wayne 36117
- Westchester 36119
- Wyoming 36121
- Yates 36123
North Carolina view state ↗ 19 I ▾
Pennsylvania view state ↗ 55 I ▾
- Adams 42001
- Allegheny 42003
- Armstrong 42005
- Beaver 42007
- Bedford 42009
- Berks 42011
- Blair 42013
- Bradford 42015
- Bucks 42017
- Cambria 42021
- Carbon 42025
- Centre 42027
- Chester 42029
- Clarion 42031
- Clearfield 42033
- Columbia 42037
- Crawford 42039
- Cumberland 42041
- Dauphin 42043
- Delaware 42045
- Elk 42047
- Erie 42049
- Fayette 42051
- Franklin 42055
- Fulton 42057
- Huntingdon 42061
- Indiana 42063
- Juniata 42067
- Lackawanna 42069
- Lancaster 42071
- Lebanon 42075
- Lehigh 42077
- Luzerne 42079
- McKean 42083
- Monroe 42089
- Montgomery 42091
- Montour 42093
- Northampton 42095
- Northumberland 42097
- Perry 42099
- Philadelphia 42101
- Pike 42103
- Schuylkill 42107
- Snyder 42109
- Somerset 42111
- Susquehanna 42115
- Tioga 42117
- Union 42119
- Venango 42121
- Warren 42123
- Washington 42125
- Wayne 42127
- Westmoreland 42129
- Wyoming 42131
- York 42133
Rhode Island view state ↗ 3 I ▾
Vermont view state ↗ 7 I ▾
Virginia view state ↗ 64 I ▾
- Albemarle 51003
- Alleghany 51005
- Amelia 51007
- Amherst 51009
- Appomattox 51011
- Arlington 51013
- Augusta 51015
- Bath 51017
- Bedford 51019
- Bland 51021
- Botetourt 51023
- Buckingham 51029
- Campbell 51031
- Carroll 51035
- Charles City 51036
- Chesapeake (city) 51550
- Chesterfield 51041
- Clarke 51043
- Craig 51045
- Fairfax 51059
- Fauquier 51061
- Floyd 51063
- Fluvanna 51065
- Franklin 51067
- Frederick 51069
- Giles 51071
- Gloucester 51073
- Grayson 51077
- Greene 51079
- Halifax 51083
- Henrico 51087
- Highland 51091
- Isle of Wight 51093
- James City 51095
- King and Queen 51097
- King George 51099
- Lancaster 51103
- Lee 51105
- Loudoun 51107
- Lunenburg 51111
- Madison 51113
- Middlesex 51119
- Montgomery 51121
- Nelson 51125
- New Kent 51127
- Newport News (city) 51700
- Orange 51137
- Page 51139
- Patrick 51141
- Pittsylvania 51143
- Powhatan 51145
- Prince William 51153
- Pulaski 51155
- Rappahannock 51157
- Rockbridge 51163
- Rockingham 51165
- Russell 51167
- Scott 51169
- Shenandoah 51171
- Warren 51187
- Washington 51191
- Westmoreland 51193
- Wythe 51197
- York 51199
West Virginia view state ↗ 28 I ▾
- Barbour 54001
- Braxton 54007
- Cabell 54011
- Fayette 54019
- Gilmer 54021
- Grant 54023
- Greenbrier 54025
- Hampshire 54027
- Hancock 54029
- Hardy 54031
- Harrison 54033
- Lewis 54041
- Lincoln 54043
- Mercer 54055
- Mineral 54057
- Monongalia 54061
- Monroe 54063
- Morgan 54065
- Nicholas 54067
- Ohio 54069
- Pocahontas 54075
- Preston 54077
- Raleigh 54081
- Roane 54087
- Summers 54089
- Taylor 54091
- Upshur 54097
- Webster 54101
§5Sources & provenance
USDA PLANTS
Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.
plants.usda.gov/AREL3 ↗GBIF Backbone
Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.
gbif.org/species/2704505 ↗Record version
Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:
usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26
fetched 2026-05-26T05:45:41Z