Index / Search / Elymus repens

§1 Plant

Elymus repens (L.) Gould

vernacular quackgrass — species · Poaceae


USDA
ELRE4
GBIF
5290299
Rank
species
quackgrass (Elymus repens)
Platephotograph · Dmitry IvanovCC BY-NC 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 Introduced
  • CAN Canada Introduced
  • GL Greenland Introduced
  • L48 Lower 48 States Introduced
  • SPM St. Pierre & Miquelon Introduced
§2b

County-level range

· 687 counties across 26 states/territories
Legend Native · 0 Introduced · 687 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

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

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance
-43 °F minimum
Frost-free days
90 min.
Precipitation
24–65 in/yr
pH range
5.2–7.8
Root depth
14 in min.
Fertility need
Medium
Soil texture
coarse, medium, fine
§3c

Form & growth

Growth form
Rhizomatous
Growth rate
Rapid
Lifespan
Moderate
Mature height
2.6 ft
Foliage texture
Medium
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
Mid Spring
Seed abundance
Low
Seed begins
Spring
Seed ends
Summer
Spread rate
Moderate
Stratify
No
Seeds / lb
110,000
Propagation
seed, sprigs
§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 687 counties across 26 states/territories.

Alaska view state ↗ 11 I
Arizona view state ↗ 3 I
Arkansas view state ↗ 7 I
Delaware view state ↗ 1 I
District of Columbia view state ↗ 1 I
Illinois view state ↗ 78 I
Indiana view state ↗ 48 I
Iowa view state ↗ 40 I
Kansas view state ↗ 13 I
Kentucky view state ↗ 19 I
Maine view state ↗ 15 I
Maryland view state ↗ 1 I
Massachusetts view state ↗ 14 I
Michigan view state ↗ 56 I
Minnesota view state ↗ 67 I
Montana view state ↗ 41 I
New Hampshire view state ↗ 10 I
New Jersey view state ↗ 19 I
New York view state ↗ 51 I
North Carolina view state ↗ 23 I
Pennsylvania view state ↗ 62 I
Rhode Island view state ↗ 4 I
Tennessee view state ↗ 12 I
Vermont view state ↗ 14 I
Virginia view state ↗ 43 I
West Virginia view state ↗ 34 I

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

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

plants.usda.gov/ELRE4 ↗

GBIF Backbone

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

gbif.org/species/5290299 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26

fetched 2026-05-26T07:25:30Z