[Agropyron brevifolium Scribn., moreAgropyron saundersii (Vasey) Hitchc., Elymus x saundersii var. californicus Hoover, Elymus x saundersii var. saundersii Vasey]
Mary E. Barkworth, Julian J.N. Campbell and Bjorn Salomon
Plants cespitose, not rhizomatous. Culms 50–80 cm, erect, glabrous or pilose. Leaves somewhat basally concentrated; sheaths retrorsely hairy; auriclesto 1 mm; ligules 0.5–1 mm; blades 10–15 cm long, 4–5 mm wide, flat, becoming involute when dry, tapering to the apices. Spikes 10–25 cm long, 1–2.5 cm wide, with 1 spikelet per node; internodes 4–5 mm; disarticulation at the rachis nodes. Spikelets 10–25 mm excluding the awns, with 3–6 florets. Glumes 6–8 mm, linear-lanceolate to lanceolate, 3–5-veined, veins scabrous, apices sometimes toothed, awned, awns 8–13 mm; lemmas 10–13 mm, glabrous, smooth proximally, scabrous distally, awned, awns 20–45 mm, outcurving; anthers 1.5–2 mm, usually indehiscent.
Elymus ×saundersii comprises hybrids between E. trachycaulus and E. elymoides. Such hybrids are found throughout much of the western portion of the contiguous United States , mostly in disturbed areas. The hybrids are generally sterile and, like all hybrids involving E. elymoides or E. multisetus , the rachises disarticulate at maturity.