Elymus glaucus Buckley

vernacular blue wildrye — species · Poaceae

USDA: ELGL
GBIF: 5290269
Rank: species

blue wildrye (Elymus glaucus) — Platephotograph · k873245345 source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Growth habit: Graminoid
Duration: Perennial
Group: Monocot
Family: Poaceae Barnhart
Genus: Elymus

§2a

Native status, by region

AK Alaska Native
CAN Canada Native
L48 Lower 48 States Native

§2b

County-level range

· 5 counties across 1 state

Legend Native · 5 Introduced · 0 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought: High
Shade: Low
Moisture use: Low
Fire: High
Salinity: Medium
Anaerobic: High
CaCO₃: High
Hedging: None

§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance: -38 °F minimum
Frost-free days: 110 min.
Precipitation: 16–60 in/yr
pH range: 5.8–8.5
Root depth: 12 in min.
Fertility need: Low
Soil texture: coarse, medium, fine

§3c

Form & growth

Growth form: Bunch
Growth rate: Rapid
Lifespan: Moderate
Mature height: 3.3 ft
Foliage texture: Coarse
Foliage colour: Gray-Green
Porosity (summer): Moderate
Porosity (winter): Porous
Flower colour: Yellow
Fruit colour: Brown
Fire resistant: No
N fixation: None
Toxicity: None

§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period: Early Summer
Seed abundance: High
Seed begins: Summer
Seed ends: Summer
Spread rate: Moderate
Stratify: Yes
Seeds / lb: 134,500
Propagation: seed

§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability: Routinely Available
Nursery stock: No
Browse palatability: Low
Graze palatability: Medium
Palatable, human: No
Protein potential: Medium
Lumber: No
Christmas tree: No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 5 counties across 1 state.

Montana view state ↗ 5 N ▾

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/ELGL ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/5290269 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-25

fetched 2026-05-25T18:27:19Z