Giant Wildrye, Elymus condensatus

About Giant Wildrye (Elymus condensatus) 44 Nurseries Carry This Plant

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Elymus condensatus (syn. Leymus condensatus) is a wild rye grass native to California and northern Mexico. Its common name is giant wildrye. It grows in bunches or clumps, stays green all year, and has a distinctive silver blue foliage. It is drought tolerant, growing in coastal sage scrub, chaparral, southern oak woodland, foothill woodland, and Joshua tree woodlands, rarely in wetlands. It spreads by rhizomes but not rapidly and can be easily contained. It often hybridizes with Leymus triticoides, producing the common hybrid grass Leymus x multiflorus. The cultivar 'Canyon Prince' from the Channel Islands is cultivated as a landscaping grass that is somewhat smaller and more compact than the species.

Plant Description

Plant Type

Grasses

Size

3 - 6 ft tall
2 - 8 ft wide

Form

Fountain, Weeping

Growth Rate

Moderate

Dormancy

Evergreen

Fragrance

None

Flower Color

Brown

Wildlife Supported

Seeds eaten by mammals and birds.
Butterfly gardens

Butterflies & moths hosted ( 2 confirmed

, 10 likely * ) SHOW ALL

Mammifrontia rileyiMammifrontia rileyi

Apamea cuculliformisApamea cuculliformis

Woodland Skipper Ochlodes sylvanoidesOchlodes sylvanoides

Yuma Skipper Ochlodes yumaOchlodes yuma

Nevada Skipper Hesperia nevadaHesperia nevada

Armyworm Moth Mythimna unipunctaMythimna unipuncta

Bronzed Cutworm Nephelodes miniansNephelodes minians

Landscaping Information

Sun

Full Sun

Moisture

Very Low

Summer Irrigation

Max 1x / month once established

Nurseries

Carried by 44

Ease of Care

Very Easy

Cold Tolerance

Tolerates cold to 15° F

Soil Drainage

Fast, Medium, Slow

Soil Description

Tolerant of sand and clay. Tolerates Serpentine Soil. Soil PH: 5.0 - 8.0

Common uses

Groundcovers, Deer Resistant, Butterfly Gardens

Companion Plants

California Encelia, California Sagebrush, Coyotebrush, Oaks, Salvia spp, Eriogonum spp.

Maintenance

Can be pruned back to the ground in summer if it becomes floppy. Remove rhizomes to control spread

Propagation?

Can be propagated from rhizomes cut from the mother plant in Spring. For propagating by seed: No treatment.

Sunset Zones?

7*, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14*, 15*, 16*, 17*, 18*, 19*, 20*, 21*, 22*, 23*, 24*

Natural Setting

Site Type

Near the coast, in dry slopes, open places as a component of coastal sage scrub or chaparral. In inland valleys and foothill areas it is associated with oak woodlands. It is also found in some high desert areas with Joshua tree woodland

Climate

Annual Precipitation: 5.1" - 50.8", Summer Precipitation: 0.14" - 3.40", Coldest Month: 28.5" - 56.9", Hottest Month: 54.9" - 84.0", Humidity: 0.04" - 35.93", Elevation: -7" - 7531"

Alternative Names

Botanical Names: Leymus condensatus
Common Names: Giant Rye Grass, Giant Wild-rye

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Sources include: Wikipedia. All text shown in the "About" section of these pages is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Plant observation data provided by the participants of the California Consortia of Herbaria, Sunset information provided by Jepson Flora Project. Propogation from seed information provided by the Santa Barbara Botanical Garden from "Seed Propagation of Native California Plants" by Dara E. Emery. Sources of plant photos include CalPhotos, Wikimedia Commons, and independent plant photographers who have agreed to share their images with Calscape. Other general sources of information include Calflora, CNPS Manual of Vegetation Online, Jepson Flora Project, Las Pilitas, Theodore Payne, Tree of Life, The Xerces Society, and information provided by CNPS volunteer editors, with special thanks to Don Rideout. Climate data used in creation of plant range maps is from PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University, using 30 year (1981-2010) annual "normals" at an 800 meter spatial resolution.

Links: Jepson eFlora Taxon Page CalPhotos Wikipedia Calflora

Giant Wildrye

Elymus condensatus

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Giant WildryeElymus condensatus

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Giant Wildrye

Elymus condensatus