Bluebunch wheatgrass

Description:

Pseudoroegneria spicata (syn. Agropyron spicatum, Elymus spicatus, Festuca spicata, and others).The lemma is about 1 cm long and the awns about 1.5 cm (lemmas in this species can be awnless, the "inerme" form, which some authors have broken into a separate subspecies, but the awnless forms apparently are intermixed and simply a part of the variability of the species.) Some stalks with awns can be seen in the picture above (look at higher resolution version).July 16, 2011, Big Cottonwood Canyon, Salt Lake County, Utah, approx. 5400 ft. elev.