Elymus scaber (R.Br.) A.Löve |
Common name
Common wheatgrass
Rough Wheatgrass
Derivation
Elymus L., Sp. Pl. 83 (1753); from the Greek Elumos, old
Greek name for a kind of grain.
scaber- Latin for rough or gritty to the touch. Plants with rough leaf-blades, spikelets or stems.
Published in
Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 95: 468(1984).
Common synonyms
Agropyron scabrum (R.Br.) P.Beauv.
Agropyron scabrum (R.Br.) P.Beauv. var. plurinerve Vickery
Habit
Perennial, tufted. Basal leaf sheaths persistent and investing base of culm,
with fibrous dead sheaths. Culms erect or arching, 13.5120 cm tall. Mid-culm
internodes smooth or antrorsely scabrous. Mid-culm nodes glabrous. Leaves mostly
basal. Leaf-sheath auricles present. Leaf-sheath auricles 01.8 mm long.
Ligule an eciliate membrane, 0.20.9 mm long, hyaline or membranous, truncate.
Leaf-blades flat or involute, 540 cm long, 1.86.9 mm wide, glaucous.
Leaf-blade margins scabrous.
Inflorescence
Inflorescence solid, a raceme. Raceme 1, bilateral, 1525 cm long, bearing
few fertile spikelets, bearing (1)310(13) fertile spikelets
on each. Rhachis flattened. Spikelet packing broadside to rhachis, distant.
Spikelets
Spikelets solitary. Fertile spikelets many flowered, comprising 220 fertile
florets, with diminished florets at the apex, oblong, laterally compressed,
2535 mm long, breaking up at maturity. Spikelets disarticulating below
each fertile floret.
Glumes
Glumes persistent, similar. Lower glume subulate or oblong or ovate, 1.312
mm long, 6680% length of upper glume, chartaceous or coriaceous, (2)35(6)-nerved.
Lower glume lateral nerves ribbed. Lower glume apex acute, muticous or awned.
Upper glume oblong, 12 mm long, equalling adjacent fertile lemma,
coriaceous, 57-nerved. Upper glume lateral nerves ribbed. Upper glume
apex acute.
Florets
Fertile lemma elliptic or ovate, narrowly proportioned, 724.5 mm long,
coriaceous, keeled above, 5(7)-nerved. Lemma apex acute, 1-awned. Median
(principal) awn straight or curved, recurved at base of limb, 947 mm long
overall. Palea 90% of length of lemma, 2-keeled. Palea keels scabrous. Apical
sterile florets resembling fertile though underdeveloped. Lodicules 2, elliptic,
membranous. Anthers 3, 0.53 mm long. Stigmas 2. Ovary pubescent on apex.
Grain with adherent pericarp.
Continental Distribution:
Australasia.
Australian Distribution:
Western Australia, South Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania.
Western Australia: Drummond, Dale, Menzies, Warren, Eyre, Roe, Avon, Coolgardie. South Australia: Nullabor, Gairdner-Torrens Basin, Flinders Ranges, Eastern, Eyre Peninsula, Northern Lofty, Murray, Yorke Peninsula, Southern Lofty, Kangaroo Island, South-eastern. Queensland: Port Curtis, Burnett, Darling Downs. New South Wales: North Coast, Central Coast, South Coast, Northern Tablelands, Central Tablelands, Southern Tablelands, North-Western Slopes, Central-Western Slopes, South-Western Slopes, North-Western Plains, South-Western Plains, North Far Western Plains, South Far Western Plains. Victoria: Murray Mallee, Lowan Mallee, Wimmera, Wannon, Grampians, Riverina, Midlands, Victorian Volcanic Plain, Otway Plain, Otway Range, Eastern Highlands, Gippsland Plains, Gippsland Highlands, Wilsons Promontory, Snowfields, East Gippsland. Tasmania: Furneaux Group, North West, West Coast, Central Highlands, Midlands, Ben Lomond, East Coast.
Classification. (GPWG
2001):
Pooideae: Triticeae
Notes
Native. Found thoughout Australia except N.T. Also in New Zealand. There are
two varieties.
Lemma awns straight to variously recurved when dry; callus tip thickened | E. scaber var. scaber
(NSW QLD) Agropyron scabrum |
Lemma awns uniformly recurved when dry; callus tip not thickened | E. scaber var. plurinervis
(NSW QLD) Agropyron scabrum var. plurinerve |
Elymus scaber (R.Br.) A.Löve var. scaber
Characters of callus (e.g., densely hairy, tip thickened) are distinct in specimens
from Tas. and Vic. but not so distinct in specimens from other areas.
Found in N.S.W., Vic., S.A., W.A., and Tas. Also in New Zealand.
Elymus scaber var. plurinervis (Vickery) B.K.Simon
Found in south-eastern Qld and in north-eastern N.S.W.
Inflorescence (photo)
Elymus scaber var. scaber
© Queensland Herbarium
Sharp 65 and Simon
by D.Sharp