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Agropyron elongatum

Common name:	Tall Wheatgrass	Family:	Gramineae
Author:	(Host.)Beauv.	Botanical references:	269
Synonyms:
Known Hazards:	None known
Range:	Eastern Mediterranean region, from southern Europe to Asia Minor and the Crimea.
Habitat:	Saline meadows and along seashores where it can be subject to occasional inundation[269].
Edibility Rating (1-5):	0	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	0

Other Possible Synonyms:	From various places across the web, may not be correct. See below.
	A. rigidum[G] A. varnense[B] Elymus elongatus[B,G,P] Elymus elongatus var. ponticus[B] Elymus varnensis[B] Elytrigia elongata[B,C,G,P] Elytrigia pontica[B] Lophopyrum elongatum[B,G,P] Thinopyrum elongatum[G] Thinopyrum ponticum[B,C,CAL] Triticum elongatum[G] Triticum rigidum[G]
Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Tall Wheatgrass [P],
Epithets:	From a Dictionary of Botanical Epithets
	elongatum = elongated; longa = long;
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Cyperales. Renamed to Poaceae -- Grass family

Physical Characteristics

An evergreen perennial growing to 1.8m. It is hardy to zone 6 and is not frost tender. It is in leaf all year. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Wind. We rate it 0/5 for edibility and 0/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils and can grow in very alkaline and saline soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It requires dry or moist soil.

Edible Uses

None known

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

None known

Other Uses

Biomass; Soil reclamation.

The plant establishes well on wet alkaline soils and is extensively used in reclaiming such areas. It has been reported to be promising even in the arid zone of South Australia where rainfall is 12.5 - 20 cm annually. The plant has also been recommended for reclaiming saline soils and it has also been shown how the species can be used in reclaiming red mud bauxite residues[269].
According to the phytomass files (Duke, 1981b), annual productivity ranges from 2 to 15 MT/ha, which phytomass could be converted to alcohol or methane[269].

Cultivation details

A very tolerant plant, able to grow in a wide range of conditions. It succeeds in soils with a pH of 5.3 - 9.0, and thrives in areas subject to inundation by saline water, such as seashores and saline meadows as well as on alkaline soils[269]. The plant grows best in full sun but tolerates some shade. Tall wheatgrass is reported to tolerate an annual precipitation in the range of 30 to 210cm and average temperatures ranging between 5° to 19°C[269].
Not all forms of the plant are frost-tolerant, but some forms will succeed even in Northern Canada[269].
Coming from the Mediterranean region with its dry summers, this is a cool-season grass that grows mainly from the autumn round to the spring and then can become dormant in the summer[269].

Propagation

Seed - surface sow, or only just cover the seed, in a greenhouse in early autumn. Germination should take place within a few days. When large enough to handle, prick out the seedlings into individual pots and plant out in the following autumn or spring.
If you are sowing a large area, then the seed can be sown in situ, preferably in early autumn, though in areas experiencing heavy frosts in the winter it would be best to sow the seed in the spring. A seed rate of 9 - 13 kg per hectare is recommended[269].

Cultivars

'Orbit': Developed in 1966 for use in Canada, this is a winter-hardy form that is adapted to wet saline soils in all parts of Canada[269].
'Alkar': Developed in Washington, USA, in 1959, this cultivar has been used to reclaim large areas of saline and alkaline lands[269].

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

Web References

[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
[HEC] Use, Folk Medicine, etc. from Handbook of Energy Crops by James Duke

References for Elytrigia elongata (a possible synonym).

[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[C] Taxon data. from the CalFlora database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.

References for Thinopyrum ponticum (a possible synonym).

[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[269] Duke. J. Handbook of Energy Crops - 1983
Published only on the Internet, excellent information on a wide range of plants.

Readers Comments

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Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
WEB search engine by Rich Morris - Home Page- Contact Info
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This page (UK) http://www.comp.leeds.ac.uk/cgi-bin/pfaf/arr_html?Agropyron+elongatum
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