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Index / Search / Elymus canadensis

§1 Plant

Elymus canadensis L.

vernacular Canada wildrye — species · Poaceae

USDA
ELCA4
GBIF
5290282
Rank
species
Canada wildrye (Elymus canadensis)
Platephotograph · Annette Le FaiveCC BY-NC source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Habit and range

Growth habit
Graminoid
Duration
Perennial
Group
Monocot
Family
Poaceae Barnhart
Genus
Elymus
§2a

Native status, by region

  • CAN Canada Native
  • L48 Lower 48 States Native
§2b

County-level range

· 1,257 counties across 40 states/territories
Legend Native · 1257 Introduced · 0 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought
Medium
Shade
Low
Moisture use
Medium
Fire
Low
Salinity
Medium
Anaerobic
Low
CaCO₃
High
Hedging
None
§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance
-43 °F minimum
Frost-free days
90 min.
Precipitation
20–45 in/yr
pH range
5–7.9
Root depth
16 in min.
Fertility need
Medium
Soil texture
coarse, medium, fine
§3c

Form & growth

Growth form
Bunch
Growth rate
Rapid
Lifespan
Short
Mature height
3 ft
Foliage texture
Coarse
Foliage colour
Green
Porosity (summer)
Dense
Porosity (winter)
Porous
Flower colour
Yellow
Fruit colour
Brown
Fire resistant
No
N fixation
None
Toxicity
None
§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period
Late Spring
Seed abundance
Medium
Seed begins
Spring
Seed ends
Spring
Spread rate
Moderate
Stratify
No
Seeds / lb
114,000
Propagation
seed
§3e

Use & availability

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

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 1,257 counties across 40 states/territories.

Arizona view state ↗ 9 N ▾
Arkansas view state ↗ 25 N ▾
California view state ↗ 3 N ▾
Colorado view state ↗ 32 N ▾
Delaware view state ↗ 1 N ▾
District of Columbia view state ↗ 1 N ▾
Idaho view state ↗ 14 N ▾
Illinois view state ↗ 102 N ▾
Indiana view state ↗ 54 N ▾
Iowa view state ↗ 56 N ▾
Kansas view state ↗ 105 N ▾
Kentucky view state ↗ 6 N ▾
Maine view state ↗ 6 N ▾
Massachusetts view state ↗ 10 N ▾
Michigan view state ↗ 51 N ▾
Minnesota view state ↗ 73 N ▾
Missouri view state ↗ 46 N ▾
Montana view state ↗ 18 N ▾
Nebraska view state ↗ 81 N ▾
Nevada view state ↗ 2 N ▾
New Hampshire view state ↗ 5 N ▾
New Jersey view state ↗ 13 N ▾
New Mexico view state ↗ 26 N ▾
New York view state ↗ 36 N ▾
North Carolina view state ↗ 2 N ▾
North Dakota view state ↗ 47 N ▾
Ohio view state ↗ 30 N ▾
Oklahoma view state ↗ 50 N ▾
Oregon view state ↗ 7 N ▾
Pennsylvania view state ↗ 35 N ▾
South Dakota view state ↗ 46 N ▾
Tennessee view state ↗ 5 N ▾
Texas view state ↗ 108 N ▾
Utah view state ↗ 25 N ▾
Vermont view state ↗ 9 N ▾
Virginia view state ↗ 7 N ▾
Washington view state ↗ 10 N ▾
West Virginia view state ↗ 18 N ▾
Wisconsin view state ↗ 66 N ▾
Wyoming view state ↗ 17 N ▾

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

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

plants.usda.gov/ELCA4 ↗

GBIF Backbone

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

gbif.org/species/5290282 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26

fetched 2026-05-26T20:46:58Z