Characteristics:
Southeastern Wildrye tends to form sparse stands at the forested edges of clearings and fields. The foliage transitions from bright green in the spring through late summer yellow to a pale brown through the fall and winter. Long awns give the abundant seedheads a prickly appearance. These seeds provide harvest-season food for many songbirds and other wildlife.
Habitat:
Meadows, woodland edges, savannah
Ecology:
All of our local Wildryes from the genus Elymus hybridize freely. Their preferred growing environments often overlap, leading to mixed stands of several species that tend to blur together where they meet. The propensity of Elymus to mix and match genetics is a good example of the natural world’s refusal to adhere to the neat organizational rules we attempt to apply to our description of it.
Elymus glabriflorus
Southeastern Wild Rye
Family: Poaceae
Type: Grass
Height: 1’ - 3’
Spread: .5 to 1 ft
Bloom: Green, June to July
Water: Medium
Sunlight: Full sun to part shade
Tolerates: Deer