Elymus villosus Muhl.
Hairy Wildrye

Habit: 		Tufted perennial.
Culms: 		40-100 cm. tall, tufted, ascending, slender, more or less pubescent.
Blades: 	12-25 cm. long, 4-10 mm. wide, flat, lax, smooth or slightly scabrous beneath,
		pubescent above.
Sheaths: 	Glabrous to sparsely pilose.
Ligule: 	Membranous, less than 0.5 mm. long.
Inflorescence: 	Closely flowered terminal exserted cylindric spikes, nodding, 5-12 cm.
		long about 2.5 cm. thick.
Spikelets: 	Somewhat divergent, 1-3-flowered, usually 2 or 3 at each node, sessile at the
		alternate notches of the continuous rachis; rachilla articulated above the glumes and
		between the florets.
Glumes: 	12-20 mm. long, awl-shaped, spreading, distinctly nerved above the firm cylindric
		nerveless divergent or somewhat bowed out base, hispid or hirsute, 2 or 3 times the
		length of the hirsute floret which is 7-8 mm. long, excluding the capillary awn
		(1-2 cm. in length); equal, 1-3-nerved, placed edge to edge in front or toward the
		sides of the florets (which are dorsiventral to the rachis of the spike) simulating
		an involucre at each joint of the rachis.
Lemmas: 	About 7 mm. long, hispid, oblong or lanceolate, rounded on the back obscurely
		5-nerved, usually awned, the straight, slender awn 1-3 cm. long.
Palea: 		A little shorter than their lemmas.
Fruit: 		Grain hairy at the summit, adherent to the lemma and palea.
Habitat: 	Moist and dry woods and riverbanks.  June-August.
Kansas Range:	Scattered in east half and southwest fourth.
Synonyms:	Elymus arkansanus Scribn. & Ball
		Elymus canadensis L. var. villosus (Muhl. ex Willd.) Shinners
		Elymus villosus Muhl. ex Willd. var. arkansanus (Scribn. & Ball) J.J. Campbell