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Poaceae FAMILY

Leymus racemosus

Leymus racemosus

Edibility
3/5
Medicinal
0/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Cultivation Details

HabitPerennial
Growth—

Leymus racemosus is a very cold-tolerant plant, succeeding in areas where winter temperatures can fall to -25°c, It is adapted to areas that receive at least 175mm of mean annual precipitation[1]. The plant is suitable for riparian restoration and rated tolerant of salinity and flooding. Requires a sunny position. Succeeds in most soils, though it performs best on well drained neutral to somewhat alkaline soils. It thrives in sandy soils and is very tolerant of sand deposition[2, 3, 1]. Vegetative spread by rhizomes diminishes when the plant is grown on heavier soils[1]. Established plants are very drought resistant[4]. The plant is rated tolerant of salinity and of seasonal flooding[1]. Currently (1990) the plant is being evaluated as a perennial grain crop in N. America[4]. There are some named varieties, selected for their ornamental value[3]. This species is known to produce fertile hybrids with Leymus multicaulis[1].

Propagation

Seed - sow mid spring in situ and only just cover the seed[5]. Germination should take place within 2 weeks. If the supply of seed is limited, it can also be sown in mid spring in a cold frame. Only just cover the seed. When large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and plant them out in summer[PFAF] Division in spring or summer[5]. Very easy, larger clumps can be replanted direct into their permanent positions, though it is best to pot up smaller clumps and grow them on in a cold frame until they are rooting well. Plant them out in the spring. Cite as: Temperate Plants Database, Ken Fern. temperate.theferns.info. 2026-02-21. <temperate.theferns.info/plant/Leymus+racemosus>

Pollinators

Wind

References

  1. [1]Plants Database — United States Department of Agriculture · http://plants.usda.gov/java/factSheet ↩︎An online database with an excellent collection of fact sheets about native N. American plants.
  2. [2]RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 — F. Chittendon. · Oxford University Press · 1951 · ISBN - ↩︎Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaced in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [ 200 ]).
  3. [3]The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. — Huxley. A. · MacMillan Press · 1992 · ISBN 0-333-47494-5 ↩︎Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.
  4. [4]Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. — Facciola. S. · Kampong Publications · 1990 · ISBN 0-9628087-0-9 ↩︎Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.
  5. [5]Ornamental Grasses. — Grounds. R. · Christopher Helm · 1989 · ISBN 0-7470-1219-9 ↩︎Cultivation details of many of the grasses and bamboos. Well illustrated.
  6. [6]Flora of the USSR. — Komarov. V. L. · Israel Program for Scientific Translation · 1968 · http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org · ISBN - ↩︎An immense (25 or more large volumes) and not yet completed translation of the Russian flora. Full of information on plant uses and habitats but heavy going for casual readers. It can be downloaded from the Internet.
  7. [7]Flora Europaea — ? · Cambridge University Press · 1964 · ISBN - ↩︎An immense work in 6 volumes (including the index). The standard reference flora for Europe, it is very terse though and with very little extra information. Not for the casual reader.
  8. [PFAF]Plants for a Future — pfaf.org ↩︎