Page authors: Don Knoke, David Giblin
Achnatherum hymenoides
Indian ricegrass
Specimens
Photos

Distribution: Occurring east of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to California, east to the Great Plains.

Habitat: Grasslands, desert plains, and foothills, especially on rocky or sandy soil.

Flowers: May-June

Origin: Native

Growth Duration: Perennial

Conservation Status: Not of concern

Pollination: Wind

Description:
General:

Strongly tufted perennial 3-6 dm. tall, the culms thick-walled, but hollow.

Leaves:

Sheaths open, glabrous to puberulent; ligules about 6 mm. long, entire to lacerate, acuminate; blades elongate, strongly involute, about 1 mm. wide.

Flowers:

Inflorescence an open panicle 8-16 cm. long, the branches spreading and dichotomously branched, the pedicles filiform; spikelets 1-flowered, articulate above the glumes; glumes ovate-acuminate, 3-nerved, subglabrous, 5-9 mm. long, subequal; lemmas dark, 3-4 mm. long, copiously hairy, with a stout awn 4-6 mm. long; stamens 3, the anthers with a tuft of hair at the tip; lodicules 3, 2 mm. long, two broadly wedge-shaped, the third rhombic.

Fruits:

Utricle

Accepted Name:
Achnatherum hymenoides (Roem. & Schult.) Barkworth
Publication: Phytologia 74(1): 7-8. 1993. 1993.

Synonyms & Misapplications:
Eriocoma cuspidata Nutt.
Oryzopsis hymenoides (Roem. & Schult.) Ricker ex Piper [HC]
Stipa hymenoides Roem. & Schult.
Additional Resources:

PNW Herbaria: Specimen records of Achnatherum hymenoides in the Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria database

WA Flora Checklist: Achnatherum hymenoides checklist entry

OregonFlora: Achnatherum hymenoides information

E-Flora BC: Achnatherum hymenoides atlas page

CalPhotos: Achnatherum hymenoides photos

24 photographs:
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