Canada Wild-rye, Elymus canadensis, Eloise Butler Wild Flower Garden

	Grasses of the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden
	Common Name	Scientific Name	Plant Family	Garden Location	Height	Prime Season
	Wild Rye Canada Wild–rye	Elymus sp. Elymus canadensis L.	Poaceae (Grasses)	Woodland	2.5 to 4'	July to October
	Native Status	Wild Rye is a native grass to most of the United States and Canada. The most common species is Canada Wild-rye, Elymus canadensis L. In Minnesota that species is found throughout the state in all but a dozen counties.
Notes	These notes are specifically about Canada Wild-rye. This is a bunchgrass that can grow to 4 feet high. It has erect or arching stems with flat, wide leaves (to 8/10"). Leaves are waxy green, pointed, and grow from the stem base to the flower spike. The spikelets are thick and bristly, often 2 or 3 at a node, and in total, the spike can be 10 inches in length and nodding at maturity. The spikelets have a long curved awn. (An awn is a bristle-like appendage that responds to changes in atmospheric moisture by coiling and uncoiling and this helps ratchet the seed into the soil.) The ligule at the leaf node is truncate and the auricle of the leaf sheath is typically brown or purplish-black. This is a cool season grass that is short-lived but after seed maturity can regenerate growth and be useful for fall forage. Seedlings establish readily but are not competitive with other grasses, so you will often find it in areas without a lot of other competition. It is tolerant of drought and is very cold hardy. It can be used for livestock forage in the early and late part of the growing season and wildlife also find it palatable. It is susceptible to leaf and stem rust. This species is the best known of the many Wild Rye grasses and is a dominant grass of the prairies.


Above: Spikelets of Canada Wild-rye; left in late September, right in July
Below: Annual Rye planted as a cover crop on the northwest prairie hillside in the Upland Garden following a spring burn. Photo ©Phoebe Waugh.	Drawing below courtesy USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Hitchcock, A.S. (rev. A. Chase). 1950. Manual of the grasses of the United States. USDA Miscellaneous Publication No. 200. Washington, DC.

Below: Flowering heads of Canada Wild Rye in the green stage in July at left and at maturity in late September at right.

Below: Detail of the ligule and the enveloping auricle which can typically be brown or purplish-black.	Below: Developing July seed head of Canadian wild Rye.

Below: Wild Rye and Eastern Bottlebrush grass in late September in the Upland Garden.

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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Wild Rye

Canada Wild–rye