Index / Search / Leymus arenarius

§1 Plant

Leymus arenarius (L.) Hochst.

vernacular sand ryegrass — species · Poaceae

USDA: LEAR11
GBIF: 2706368
Rank: species

sand ryegrass (Leymus arenarius) — Platephotograph · c michael hoganCC BY-NC-SA source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Growth habit: Graminoid
Duration: Perennial
Group: Monocot
Family: Poaceae Barnhart
Genus: Leymus

§2a

Native status, by region

CAN Canada Introduced
GL Greenland Introduced
L48 Lower 48 States Introduced

§2b

County-level range

· 11 counties across 4 states/territories

Legend Native · 0 Introduced · 11 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

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

§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance: 7 °F minimum
Frost-free days: 200 min.
Precipitation: 34–60 in/yr
pH range: 5.7–6.5
Root depth: 16 in min.
Fertility need: Medium
Soil texture: coarse, medium

§3c

Form & growth

Growth form: Rhizomatous
Growth rate: Rapid
Lifespan: Long
Mature height: 3 ft
Foliage texture: Coarse
Foliage colour: Dark 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: Slow
Stratify: No
Seeds / lb: 100,000
Propagation: seed, sprigs

§3e

Use & availability

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

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 11 counties across 4 states/territories.

Illinois view state ↗ 3 I ▾

Michigan view state ↗ 2 I ▾

New York view state ↗ 2 I ▾

Wisconsin view state ↗ 4 I ▾

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

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

plants.usda.gov/LEAR11 ↗

GBIF Backbone

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

gbif.org/species/2706368 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26

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