Single Record
Participant Info
- Species
- Elymus elymoides [Elymus sitanion] [Hordeum elymoides] [Sitanion elymoides] [Sitanion hystrix]
- Family
- Poaceae
- CommonName
- squirreltail, bottlebrush
- Presence
- yes
- Status
- native
- EarliestDate
- 1896
- LatestDate
- 2025
- Ecosystem
- foothill, montane, subalpine, urban
- Geobotanical
- SSawatch, Garitas, SSanjuans, Culebras, NCristos, LBasin
- Counties
- Alamosa, Conejos, Costilla, Hinsdale, Mineral, Rio Grande, Saguache, Archuleta
- Passes
- Cochetopa, Moon, La Manga, Los Pinos, Poncha, Wolf Creek
- WildlifePreserves
- Baca
- Other Localities
- La Botica, Del Norte
- Comments
- Squirreltail has been the most commonly vouchered grass from the Watershed. It grows in all mountain ranges, both east and west, from foothill up to subalpine (the records from the Lower Basin come from the San Luis Hills). Elymus elymoides, not a very competitive plant, often grows in poor, sandy soil where other plants are scarce, sometimes found in alley and driveways. It is a variable species and hybridizes easily. The USA range is nearly all counties in all Western states, including the western edge of the Great Plains. It follows the Rio Grande drainage through New Mexico to and including the Big Bend country of Texas. The bushy spike ("squirreltail"), by the way, is composed of both awns and glumes, and a good hand lens is required to tell them apart.
- Annotation