Bluebunch Wheatgrass

Jepson Workshop: Flora of Lava Bed N.M. with Sean Smith and Steve Jessup.

Jepson Workshop: Flora of Lava Bed N.M. with Sean Smith and Steve Jessup.

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.

With the late summer rains that we were fortunate to have received in good supply this year, the native perennial Bluebunch wheatgrass now sports nice clumpy blade tufts with a color closer to lawn grass than the more faded and taller and more loosely bunched blades of early summer. In short, the plants look markedly different now than they did four months ago at this location. There were only a relatively few clumps of these grasses here on these fully exposed harsh, steep, eroded, gravelly cliffs but in more favorable habitats, there were hundreds of plants like this one showing off their new growth beneath their now golden-dried erect culms and inflorescences.Growing here with the Bluebunch wheatgrass i.e. Pseudoroegneria spicata (synonyms include Agropyron spicatum and Elymus spicatus ) is Eriogonum brevicaule var. brevicaule (yellow flowers - it was also in bloom when I was last here over four months ago, common in appropriate habitats but one of my many favorites), Oenothera cespitosa subsp. cespitosa (more commonly we see subsp. marginata in our area, but the plants here while transitional into subsp. marginata seem to be closest to subsp. cespitosa), and a species of Boechera (Rockcress, most of which used to be classified under Arabis) vigorously growing its basal rosettes as they typically do at this time of year, possibly B. retrofracta or a hybrid.Oct. 18, 2014, lower Emigration Canyon, Salt Lake County, Utah, elev. approx. 5400 ft.

This is what our foothills should look like but now rarely do. Bluebunch wheatgrass (its scientific name is Pseudoroegneria spicata with synonyms that include Agropyron spicatum and Elymus spicatus and others) is a cool season, drought resistant, perennial native bunchgrass that should be in widespread use in landscapes (but rarely is).Due to late summer moisture this year, each of these "bunches" has vigorous new growth at the base of their golden-dried flowering stalks (culms) of neatly tufted, and beautiful green leaves. Its appearance at this time of year is in general in stark contrast to the same scene four months ago.Most of the native bunchgrasses like Bluebunch wheatgrass in starting their growth later in the spring hold moisture longer and are in that sense more "fire resistant" and highly beneficial compared to their exotic counterparts which grow faster and dry out much more quickly and therefore burn more readily and much hotter. Local genotypes of this species, and not Crested wheatgrass, should be used in appropriate locations for restoration purposes.So, the Bluebunch wheatgrass dominance here is a very good and welcome sign and may also indicate that this location was not extensively grazed (and that might make sense since it would be difficult to access, at least by cattle, due to the steepness of slopes leading into the area that surround it) since Bluebunch wheatgrass does not respond well to heavy grazing.And what may look like a monoculture is in fact not; the native grasses encourage diversity and a relative wealth of other native species co-occur here despite the harsh gravel substrate. This is in contrast to introduced, exotic grasses such as Crested wheatgrass which tend to exclude other species and yet the USDA and USFS continues to use and recommend it in disturbance-restoration projects (and has done so for decades).Plants can have awns or be awnless; some taxonomists treat those forms as different entities but genetic research has shown that is controlled by a single gene and they should likely not be treated as separate taxonomic entities.Oct. 18, 2014, lower Emigration Canyon, Salt Lake County, Utah, elev. approx. 5,725 ft.

Pseudoroegneria spicata (syn. Agropyron spicatum, Elymus spicatus, Festuca spicata, and others).August 13, 2011, Bonneville terrace level at about 4,970 ft., western base of Mt. Olympus, Wasatch foothills, Salt lake County, Utah