Plants not cespitose, strongly rhizomatous, often glaucous. Culms 35-75 cm tall, 1-2.5 mm thick, solitary or a few together, glabrous or sparsely pubescent near the nodes. Leaves exceeded by the spikes; sheaths glabrous, smooth;auricles infrequently present, to 0.8 mm, the auricular location often with hairs to 2 mm; ligules 0.3-0.5 mm, truncate, erose; blades 4-29 cm long, 1-2(5) mm wide, flat, becoming involute when dry, stiff, adaxial surfaces scabrous, with scattered hairs to 2 mm, veins 7-11, subequal, prominently ribbed. Spikes 1.5-25 cm long, 4-10 mm wide, with 1 spikelet per node at midspike, sometimes with 2 at the lower nodes; internodes 7-12 mm, surfaces glabrous or strigillose, edges ciliate, cilia to 1 mm. Spikelets 16-25 mm, pedicellate, pedicels 1-2(5) mm, with 3-12 florets. Glumes subequal, 8-12 mm long, 0.5-1.5 mm wide, subulate, tapering from about 1/4 of their length, stiff, glabrous at least at the base, the central portion thicker than the margins, keeled, 0-1(3)-veined, veins inconspicuous at midlength; lemmas 7-12 mm, glabrous, awned, awns 2.3-6.5(12) mm; anthers 3.7-4.5 mm, dehiscent. 2n = 28.
Leymus simplex is found in meadows and drifting sand in southern Wyoming, and along the Green River in northeastern Utah.
Jepson 2012, Kearney and Peebles 1969
Common Name: beardless wildrye Duration: Perennial Nativity: Native Lifeform: Graminoid General: Perennial grasses from slender, creeping rhizomes; stems to 1 m or more, solitary or a few together (not growing as a bunchgrass), usually glaucus, with glabrous nodes. Vegetative: Leaves concentrated toward the bottom of the stems; blades flat or rolled, stiffly ascending, 10-35 cm long and 3-6 mm wide, upper surfaces finely scabrous; sheaths glabrous or hairy; auricles to 1 mm long; ligules 0.2-1.3 mm, truncate, erose. Inflorescence: Spikes 5-20 cm long, the axis generally remaining intact with age; spikelets ascending, 1-3 per node but commonly 2 per node, somewhat irregularly placed on the axis; spikelets compressed laterally, with 3-7 florets, disarticulating above glumes and between florets; glumes 5-16 mm, awl-like; lemmas rounded, 5-12 mm long, 5-7-veined, awn-tipped; awns straight or curved outward, to 3 mm long. Ecology: Found in dry to moist, often saline, meadows, from 2,500-8,500 ft (762-2591 m); flowering June-July. Distribution: Fom British Columbia south to Texas and West to New Mexico, Arizona, and California. Notes: This short-awned Leymus is distinct for its strongly rhizomatous growth form, with stems emerging from the ground singly or in small clusters. Look also for the stiff, glaucous (blue-green, slightly waxy) leaves and the straight, narrow flowering stalk with a pair of spikelets at most nodes, though some nodes have 1 or 3 spikelets. The spikelets have 3-7 alternately stacked florets, each with a small awn less than 3 mm long. Similar to Pascopyrum smithii but in that species the leaf blades are involute (with rolled edges), and the spikelets are larger, with 5-12 flowers, compared to L. triticoides, which has 3-7 flowered spikelets. Also similar to Elemus trachycaulus but that species is a bunchgrass and the flowering stalks have only 1 spikelet per node. Ethnobotany: Seeds cooked and eaten as a grain; used as fodder for livestock, and the stems used for basketry. Etymology: Leymus is an anagram of Elymus, which all Leymus spp. were formerly classified as, and which was an ancient Greek name for millet; triticoides means like genus Triticum, or wheat. Synonyms: Elymus triticoides Editor: LCrumbacher2012, AHazelton 2015