Agropyron smithii Rydb.
Western Wheatgrass

Habit: 		Glaucous, strongly rhizomatous perennial.
Culms: 		30-100 cm. tall, erect.
Blades: 	5-30 cm. long; 1-5 mm. wide; rigid; bluish green; glaucous; strongly grooved above;
		smooth beneath or slightly scabrous; becoming involute; auriculate.
Sheaths:	Shorter than the internodes, glabrous, glaucous.
Ligule: 	0.2-0.8 mm long; membranous ring, somewhat ciliate.
Inflorescence: 	Terminal, erect, bilateral; 5-18 cm. long.
Spikelets: 	8-16 mm long; 4-10-flowered, usually overlapping.
Glumes: 	5-13 mm. long, acuminate one half or two thirds as long as spikelet, faintly nerved,
		equal, opposite or placed edge to edge on the outer side of the spikelet, usually
		subcoriaceous and rigid, scabrous on the keel; first slightly shorter than the second.
Lemmas: 	8-15 mm. long, lanceolate, acute or acuminate, seldom awn-pointed, smooth or
		nearly so; broader, rigid, rounded on the back, or slightly keeled above, faintly 5-7-nerved.
Palea: 		Shorter than the lemma, scabrous-pubescent on the 2 keels.
Caryopsis:	Enclosed in the lemma, adherent to the palea.
Kansas Range:	Throughout.
Remarks:	Integral part of western Kansas Shortgrass Prairies and the clayey sites of eastern prairies.
Synonyms:	Pascopyrum smithii (Rydb.) A. Love
		Agropyron molle (Scribn. & J.G. Sm.) Rydb.
		Agropyron smithii Rydb. var. molle (Scribn. & J.G. Sm.) M.E. Jones
		Agropyron smithii Rydb. var. palmeri (Scribn. & J.G. Sm.) Heller