Index / Search / Elymus trachycaulus ssp. trachycaulus

§1 Plant

Elymus trachycaulus (Link) Gould ex Shinners ssp. trachycaulus

vernacular slender wheatgrass — subspecies · Poaceae

USDA: ELTRT
GBIF: 4104489 syn.
Rank: subspecies

slender wheatgrass (Elymus trachycaulus ssp. trachycaulus) — Platephotograph · Paul Aigner source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & 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
SPM St. Pierre & Miquelon Native

§2b

County-level range

· 213 counties across 20 states/territories

Legend Native · 213 Introduced · 0 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought: High
Shade: High
Moisture use: Medium
Fire: High
Salinity: Medium
Anaerobic: Low
CaCO₃: Medium
Hedging: None

§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance: -38 °F minimum
Frost-free days: 90 min.
Precipitation: 8–25 in/yr
pH range: 5.6–9
Root depth: 16 in min.
Fertility need: Medium
Soil texture: medium, fine

§3c

Form & growth

Growth form: Bunch
Growth rate: Rapid
Lifespan: Moderate
Mature height: 3 ft
Foliage texture: Medium
Foliage colour: Green
Porosity (summer): Dense
Porosity (winter): Porous
Flower colour: Yellow
Fruit colour: Brown
Fire resistant: No
N fixation: None
Toxicity: None

§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period: Late Spring
Seed abundance: High
Seed begins: Spring
Seed ends: Summer
Spread rate: Slow
Stratify: No
Seeds / lb: 135,000
Propagation: seed

§3e

Use & availability

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

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 213 counties across 20 states/territories.

Alaska view state ↗ 16 N ▾

Arizona view state ↗ 10 N ▾

Illinois view state ↗ 6 N ▾

Indiana view state ↗ 8 N ▾

Kansas view state ↗ 2 N ▾

Maine view state ↗ 15 N ▾

Massachusetts view state ↗ 6 N ▾

Michigan view state ↗ 49 N ▾

Minnesota view state ↗ 2 N ▾

Montana view state ↗ 2 N ▾

New Hampshire view state ↗ 7 N ▾

New Jersey view state ↗ 2 N ▾

New Mexico view state ↗ 17 N ▾

New York view state ↗ 16 N ▾

North Carolina view state ↗ 1 N ▾

Clay 37043

Ohio view state ↗ 8 N ▾

South Dakota view state ↗ 1 N ▾

McPherson 46089

Vermont view state ↗ 12 N ▾

Virginia view state ↗ 8 N ▾

Wisconsin view state ↗ 25 N ▾

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

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

plants.usda.gov/ELTRT ↗

GBIF Backbone

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

gbif.org/species/4104489 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26

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