Eastern Bottlebrush Grass, Elymus hystrix L. var. hystrix, Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden

	Grasses of the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden
	Common Name	Scientific Name	Plant Family	Garden Location	Height	Prime Season
	Eastern Bottlebrush Grass	Elymus hystrix L. var. hystrix	Poaceae (Grasses)	upland and woodland	up to 5'	June to August
	Native Status	Eastern Bottlebrush is found in states and lower Canadian Provinces east of the Great Plains and as far south as Oklahoma. In Minnesota E. hystrix is found in most of the state, but the variety hystrix is only found in 11 counties, mostly near the Dakota Border.
Notes	Eastern Bottlebrush is identified by the characteristic seed head which is 2 to 4" wide and 6 to 8" long. The seeds have a bristle tip (awns), thus making the flower panicle resemble a bottle brush. The leaf blades are blue-gray, 1/2" wide and are held horizontally from the stalk but the lower leaves can flop. The area of the leaf auricle and ligule are usually brown to brownish-black. The stem is normally very upright and can persist into the fall. The rachis has two spikelets attached to each node. These will spread widely apart at maturity. Bottlebrush is very shade tolerant and also drought tolerant. There are two defined varieties. The variety in the Garden, E. hystrix var. hystrix has hairless lemmas (there is a chafe-like scale or husk, on the lowest bracts of a grass spikelet called a "glume" and the lemma is a small chafy bract inside and above the glume). The other variety, var. bigeloviana, has hairy lemmas. The plant will self-seed and in the fall the foliage can take on a chartreuse color. As the seed readily scatters and self seeds, care should be taken where it is planted in a home landscape.


Above: The erect stem and flower head of Eastern Bottlebrush.	Above: While Bottlebrush is quite shade tolerant it does much better in full sun.
Below: On the rachis (the stem of the raceme of inflorescence) at each node are two spikelets. The spikes can have a yellow-green color before maturity.

Below: A typical erect upper leaf.	Above and Below: The small ligule and auricle of the leaf. This area can be brown to brownish-black in color.


Below: Details of the seed head of Eastern Bottlebrush. Note the divergence of the two spikelets at each node of the rachis. Several have already fallen away in this photo. Photo ©Phoebe Waugh.

Notes: This grass is indigenous to the Garden. Eloise Butler catalogued it on Sept. 6, 1907.

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References: Plant characteristics are generally from sources 28c, W2, W3, W5 & W6. Distribution principally from W2 and W1. Planting history generally from 1, 4 & 4a. Other sources by specific reference. See Reference List for details.

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