Kingdom Plantae Family Poaceae Rank Species | Order Poales Genus Leymus | |
Similar Leymus angustus, Leymus multicaulis, Leymus cinereus, Hilaria jamesii, Leymus triticoides | ||
Leymus salinus is a species of grass known by the common names Salina wildrye and saline wildrye. It is native to the western United States. It is named for its type locality, Salina Pass, Utah.
This plant is a perennial grass forming dense clumps of stems up to 1.4 meters in height. It sometimes has rhizomes. The leaves are mostly located around the bases of the stems. The inflorescence is a spike with spikelets mostly solitary or sometimes paired. Each spikelet contains up to 6 flowers.
This plant grows in a number of habitat types in the western United States. It is sometimes a dominant species in pinyon-juniper woodlands and Gambel oak woodlands. In Colorado it is often codominant with Wyoming big sagebrush, shadscale, and Gardner's saltbush.
There are three subspecies, including ssp. mojavensis (Mojave wildrye) and ssp. salmonis (salmon wildrye).