Leymus condensatus (C. Presl)  A. Love          =Elymus condensatus                      Poaceae (Grass Family)                                                                    Native   Giant Wild Rye Wild Rye

                               May Photo

Plant Characteristics:  Annual or perennial; rhizomes short, thick; culms mostly in dense clumps, 1.5-3.5 m. high; blades firm, strongly nerved, flat, 1.5-3 cm. wide, glabrous or pubescent; spikes erect, dense, 1.5-5 dm. long, mostly +/- compound; spikelets often in 3's & 5's, 10-15 mm. long, 3-6 fld.; glumes subulate or flat and narrow, usually 1-nerved or nerveless, ca. as long as 1st lemma; lemmas glabrous to +/- strigose, short-awned or acute, hyaline-margined.

Habitat:  Dry places below 7000 ft.; Coastal Sage Scrub, Chaparral, S. Oak Wd., cismontane s. Calif. to cent. Calif., L. Calif., Channel Ids., Joshua Tree Wd., etc., mts. of n. Mojave Desert.  June-Aug.

Name:  Greek, elumos, ancient name for a grain.  (Munz, Flora So. Calif. 965).  Latin, con, with and densus, dense, compact.  (Jaeger 64,78).  Probably refers to the compact dense, spike.  Leymus, an anagram of Elymus.  (Hickman, Ed. 1268).

General:  Uncommon in the study area.  Photographed along Back Bay Dr. northerly of Big Canyon. Also found along the lower path between 23rd. St. and the Delhi area. (my comments).        Other Elymus spp. were introduced during the Mission period, probably with wheat seed brought to the Franciscan missions. (Heizer & Elsasser 38).    There were many foods not used in time of plenty, which were held in reserve for bad years, E. condensatus was one of these.  (Murphy 16).     Leaves of this species were used in construction and for fibers.  The fibers need to be soaked in water to soften before use.  Fire hardened stems were used for arrow shafts.  (lecture by Charlotte Clarke, author of Useful and Edible Plants of California, April 1987.      Elymus species have been known to cause hay fever and asthma.  (Fuller 383).         The Chumash Indians whose tribes lived in the Santa Barbara area used Elymus condensatus for arrow making.  (Timbrook, J. "Chumash Ethnobotany:  A Preliminary Report".  Journal of Ethnobiology, Dec. 1984, 141-169).       The Cahuilla Indians, who inhabited the Colorado Desert the San Bernardino and San Jacinto Mountainst, used E. condensatus for arrow making.  The rye grass stems were fire hardened to serve as the main shaft of the arrow.  A foreshaft of some other material was then inserted at one end and secured with asphaltum or pine pitch.  The only known example of such an arrow has been exhibited at Palm Springs Desert Museum.  (Bean and Saubel 69).       The Pomo, Indians of northern California, used the seeds of Elymus spp. for food.  The seeds were knocked into a tightly woven basket with a seed beater, then to give them a nutty flavor and crispness they were placed with glowing coals in a winnowing basket and tossed with the coals in the air.  They were then ground with a stone pestle to make pinole.  (Campbell 163).        About 50 species of northern temperate regions.  (Munz, Flora So. Calif. 965).       Hybridizes with L. triticoides.  (Hickman, Ed. 1268).

Text Ref:  Hickman, Ed. 1268, 1361), Munz, Calif. Flora 1505; Munz, Flora So. Calif. 966; Roberts 46.

Photo Ref:  June 5 83 # 10; May-June 85 # 18,19; May-Aug 94 # 14.

Identity: by R. De Ruff, confirmed by G. Marsh.

Computer Ref:  Plant Data 95.

No plant specimen.

Last edit 4/18/03.

                                            May Photo