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Giant Blue Wild Rye

Elymus racemosa (LEY-mus ray-se-MO-sus)

Family: Poaceae Non-native Herbaceous

Mammoth wild rye is a perennial ryegrass that is native to Europe, Asia, Mongolia, New Zealand, and is now found in a few western and mid-western states in the USA. This plant is found in a wide variety of terrains, such as wet forests, drylands, coasts and soils with high saline concentrations. It is a cool-season, clump-forming, spreading, fast-growing, drought-tolerant grass. The leaves will grow 8-16 inches long. The flowers are on a tall spike in May to June. This rye has been successfully hybridized with wheat to improve its resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. These include fungal infections and nitrogen pollution for the modern wheat plant. This plant has also been utilized as a grain in some parts of the world. It is not recommended as a garden plant. Insects, Diseases, and Other Plant Problems: No significant problems. Can be weedy.

Source: NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox ↗ NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox, 36 attributes.

How it fits the guild

Guild layer 4 - Herbaceous
See companions & conflicts ↓

Companions & Conflicts

Curated pairwise relationships between this plant and others in the library — who feeds whom, who competes, who confuses the pests. Green reads as a good pairing, red as one to avoid.

No curated interactions recorded for this species yet.

Also noted by NC State

Related species the NC State Plant Toolbox flags for this plant — look-alikes to tell apart, and plants that play a similar role in a planting. Ones we carry in the library are linked.

Full plant profile

Growing Conditions
Plant type
Ornamental Grasses and Sedges
Life cycle
Perennial
USDA zones
4a, 4b, 5a, 5b, 6a, 6b, 7a, 7b, 8a, 8b
Light
Full sun (6 or more hours of direct sunlight a day) | Partial Shade (Direct sunlight only part of the day, 2-6 hours)
Growth rate
Rapid
Maintenance
High
Canopy layer
4 - Herbaceous
Form & Appearance
Habit / form
Spreading
Texture
Coarse
Leaf color
Blue; Cream/Tan; Green
Leaf type
Simple
Leaf shape
Linear
Leaf feel
Glossy
Leaf size
> 6 inches long, < 1 inch wide
Hairs present
No
Leaf detail
steel-blue flat foliage is 8-16 inches long and .3 to .7 inches wide
Flower color
Blue; Green
Flower form
Spike
Flower detail
The spike is 6 to 14 inches tall with 3-8 spikelets per node. Spikelets are sessile with 4-6 florets. and are hairy
Bloom time
Summer
Fruit color
Cream/Tan
Fruit type
Caryopsis
Wildlife & Ecology
Native status
Non-native
Origin
SE. & E. Europe to Siberia and Caucasus
Food & Medicine
Fruit type
Caryopsis
Landscape Use
Garden tags
#spreading #ornamental grass #gray-green leaves #blue leaves
Problems & Resistance
Problems
Weedy
Resistant to
Dry Soil; Heat; Wet Soil
Propagation
Division; Seed

Planted at Hunnicutt

Nobody’s planted this one yet.