''Elymus wawawaiensis'' is a species of

grass Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns an ...

known by the common name Snake River wheatgrass. It is native to western North America, where it occurs in the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though ...

. It is

native Native may refer to: People * Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Native Americans (disambiguation) In arts and entert ...

to eastern

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

and

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

and parts of

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

.''Elymus wawawaiensis''.
USDA NRCS Plant Guide. The ''Elymus wawawaiensis'' grass is long-lived and

drought A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...

-tolerant. There are

cultivar A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture, ...

s available, including 'Secar', which is especially tolerant of drought.''Elymus wawawaiensis''.
USDA NRCS Plant Fact Sheet. Other cultivars include 'Discovery'.Jensen, K. B., et al. (2012)
Genetic improvement and diversity in Snake River Wheatgrass (''Elymus wawawaiensis'') (Poaceae: Triticeae).
''Rangeland Ecology and Management'' 65(1):76-84.

Uses

''Elymus wawawaiensis'' is good for binding soil to prevent

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is distin ...

. It can be added to a mix of native seed and sown on dikes and ditches. It is tolerant of cold conditions and of fire. It is also popular for use in rangeland and

habitat restoration Restoration ecology is the scientific study supporting the practice of ecological restoration, which is the practice of renewing and restoring degraded, damaged, or destroyed ecosystems and habitats in the environment by active human interrupt ...

throughout the American West. This grass is a good graze

forage Forage is a plant material (mainly plant leaves and stems) eaten by grazing livestock. Historically, the term ''forage'' has meant only plants eaten by the animals directly as pasture, crop residue, or immature cereal crops, but it is also used m ...

for livestock and wild

ungulate Ungulates ( ) are members of the diverse clade Ungulata which primarily consists of large mammals with hooves. These include odd-toed ungulates such as horses, rhinoceroses, and tapirs; and even-toed ungulates such as cattle, pigs, giraffes, cam ...

s. It can have up to 20% protein in the spring.

References

External links

Grass Manual on the Web — ''Elymus'' species treatments
— scroll down for ''Elymus wawawaiensis''.
Encyclopedia of Life: Information on Snake River Wheatgrass (''Elymus wawawaiensis'')
{{Taxonbar, from=Q5368496 wawawaiensis Grasses of the United States Flora of Idaho Flora of Oregon Flora of Washington (state) Endemic flora of the United States Drought-tolerant plants Forages Flora without expected TNC conservation status