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GRASSES OF THE COLUMBIA BASIN OF BRITISH COLUMBIA Heather Stewart, Richard Hebda Major Groups of Grasses Table of Contents Glossary Pseudoroegneria Bluebunch Wheatgrass Pseudoroegneria is another genus to which species were transferred from Agropyron. This name change has affected the most common species in the Columbia Basin -- Agropyron spicatum, or "Ag spic", as it is called by range managers. Somehow "Pseudoroeg spic" doesn't have the same ring! The glumes of Pseudoroegneria can be more than 15 mm long, are lancelike and veined the entire length. The lemma awns are more than 10 mm long when present. Pseudoroegneria spicata (Pursh) A. Löve Agropyron spicatum (Pursh) Scribner & J. Smith Bluebunch Wheatgrass Plant: Pseudoroegneria spicata is a native species that grows to 1.5 m tall. It is a strongly bunched perennial with a spikelike flowerhead. The bunch can form a clump up to 1.5 m wide, but there are no rhizomes. Leaves and Stem: The sheaths are smooth or covered in very short backward-pointing hairs. The ligules are barely 1 mm long and appear as a ring of hairs. The flat or somewhat inrolled leaf blades are 1.5-4.5 mm wide. They are smooth underneath but have some hairiness on the upper surface. The clasping auricles are well developed. Flowerhead and Flowers: The flowerhead is a spike with an open but unbranched construction, 8-15 cm long. The five- to eight-flowered spikelets are spaced along the axis at a distance slightly longer than their length. The two lance-shaped, unequal glumes are shorter than the spikelet and can be smooth to covered in short hairs. The glume awns vary in length. Lemmas are smooth to slightly rough and may bear prominent or slightly bent awns. Habitat: Bluebunch Wheatgrass grows on dry, open sites in the steppe and montane zone and is the most common species of the open grassland in British Columbia. It is considered one of the most important native forage bunchgrasses. In the Columbia Basin region it grows at Reco Mountain, along the Pen-d'Oreille River, in Cranbrook, Invermere, Canal Flats and at Fairmont Hotsprings, to name a few localities. Similar Species: Bluebunch Wheatgrass specimens in the Royal BC Museum's collection are annotated as belonging to two subspecies: ssp. spicata and ssp. inermis. Douglas et al. (1994) do not describe these subspecies, but allude to the existence of awned and unawned types. Barkworth (1999, pers. comm.) feels that the subspecies are valid, and that ssp. inermis differs from spp. spicata due to lack of awns. She has observed that ssp. inermis occurs in the southern part of the range, and that ssp. spicatum occurs in the northern portion of the range. Brayshaw (1999, pers. comm.) has observed both subspecies at Kelowna.

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