Index / Search / Elymus glaucus

§1 Plant

Elymus glaucus Buckley

vernacular blue wildrye — species · Poaceae


USDA
ELGL
GBIF
5290269
Rank
species
blue wildrye (Elymus glaucus)
Platephotograph · k873245345 source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Habit and range

Growth habit
Graminoid
Duration
Perennial
Group
Monocot
Family
Poaceae Barnhart
Genus
Elymus
§2a

Native status, by region

  • AK Alaska Native
  • CAN Canada Native
  • L48 Lower 48 States Native
§2b

County-level range

· 55 counties across 12 states/territories
Legend Native · 55 Introduced · 0 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought
High
Shade
Low
Moisture use
Low
Fire
High
Salinity
Medium
Anaerobic
High
CaCO₃
High
Hedging
None
§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance
-38 °F minimum
Frost-free days
110 min.
Precipitation
16–60 in/yr
pH range
5.8–8.5
Root depth
12 in min.
Fertility need
Low
Soil texture
coarse, medium, fine
§3c

Form & growth

Growth form
Bunch
Growth rate
Rapid
Lifespan
Moderate
Mature height
3.3 ft
Foliage texture
Coarse
Foliage colour
Gray-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
Summer
Seed ends
Summer
Spread rate
Moderate
Stratify
Yes
Seeds / lb
134,500
Propagation
seed
§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability
Routinely Available
Nursery stock
No
Browse palatability
Low
Graze palatability
Medium
Palatable, human
No
Protein potential
Medium
Lumber
No
Christmas tree
No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 55 counties across 12 states/territories.


§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/ELGL ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/5290269 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26

fetched 2026-05-26T09:28:40Z