Elymus lanceolatus (Scribn. & J.G. Sm.) Gould ssp. lanceolatus

vernacular thickspike wheatgrass — subspecies · Poaceae

USDA: ELLAL
GBIF: 6430957
Rank: subspecies

thickspike wheatgrass (Elymus lanceolatus ssp. lanceolatus) — Platephotograph · Frank HasslerCC BY-NC 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: High
Moisture use: Low
Fire: High
Salinity: Medium
Anaerobic: Medium
CaCO₃: Medium
Hedging: None

§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance: -38 °F minimum
Frost-free days: 90 min.
Precipitation: 8–25 in/yr
pH range: 6.6–8.4
Root depth: 16 in min.
Fertility need: Medium
Soil texture: coarse, medium, fine

§3c

Form & growth

Growth form: Rhizomatous
Growth rate: Moderate
Lifespan: Moderate
Mature height: 2.3 ft
Foliage texture: Fine
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: Mid Spring
Seed abundance: High
Seed begins: Spring
Seed ends: Summer
Spread rate: Slow
Stratify: No
Seeds / lb: 153,000
Propagation: seed

§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability: Routinely Available
Nursery stock: No
Browse palatability: Medium
Graze palatability: High
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/ELLAL ↗

GBIF Backbone

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

gbif.org/species/6430957 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-25

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