Relatives
Leymus mollis (Trin.) Hara - Soft Lyme-grass.
Taxonomic position.
Family Poaceae Benth. genus Leymus Hochst.Morphology and biology.
Perennial grass. Forms thick rhizomes. Culms 50-130(150) cm tall, usually bluish or glaucous with wax bloom, thick, pubescent under spike. Leaf blades (5)10-20(30) mm wide, thick, flat but always convolute lengthwise when drying, above sharply ribbed and scabrous, beneath glabrous and smooth, rather rigid. Spikes (13)15-20(30) cm long and up to 2 cm wide, dense, with hairy rachis. Spikelets 15-25 mm long, with 3-7 florets. Glumes gradually narrowed toward apex, acute, sparsely long-hairy (after flowering often subglabrous), longer than adjacent lemmata. Lemma 11-14 mm long, 7-veined, oval-lanceolate, acute, awnless, shortly hairy throughout surface. Palea subequal to lemma in length. Anthers (4)6-7.5 mm long. Flowers in July - September. Anemophilous. 2n=28.Distribution.
Far East; China, Japan, northwestern North America.Ecology.
On seaside coastal ridges, sands and shingles, in maritime meadows, also on slopes of seaside terraces.Use and economic value.
Forage grass.References:
Tolmachev AI., ed. 1964. Arctic Flora of the USSR. V.2. Gramineae. Moscow; Leningrad: Nauka. 273 p. (in Russian).Kharkevich SS., ed. 1985. Vascular plants of the Soviet Far East. V.1. Leningrad: Nauka. 398 p. (In Russian).
Tzvelev NN. 1976. Grasses of the Soviet Union. Leningrad: Nauka. 788 p. (In Russian).