Characteristics:
Riverbank Wildrye is aptly named for its abundance, where present, along watercourses. It is of great utility as a fast-establishing bank stabilizer when doing wetland rehabilitation. This perennial cool-season grass features 4’ rich green foliage that grows actively in the spring and fall.
Habitat:
Riverbanks, wet meadows, seeps
Ecology:
All of our local Wildryes from the genus Elymus hybridize freely. Their preferred growing environments often overlap, leading to mixed stands of several species that tend to blur together where they meet. The propensity of Elymus to mix and match genetics is a good example of the natural world’s refusal to adhere to the neat organizational rules we attempt to apply to our description of it.
Elymus riparius
Riverbank Wild Rye
Family: Poaceae
Type: Grass
Height: 2’ - 4’
Spread: 1’ - 2’
Bloom: Green, June to August
Water: Medium to wet
Sunlight: Full sun to part shade
Tolerates: Deer
