Hairy Wild Rye
Elymus villosus
A slender, elegant cool-season grass for shade, characterized by soft, hairy sheaths and small, nodding wheat-like seed spikes that bend gracefully in summer. Exceptionally drought-tolerant for a shade grass, thriving in dry clay or rocky woodland borders.
- Family
- Poaceae
- Type
- grass
- Lifespan
- perennial
- Height
- 2–3 ft
- Spacing
- 1–1.5 ft apart
- Light
- sun
- Soil moisture
- moist
- Soil pH
- acidic, neutral, alkaline
- Bloom
- July
- Bloom colors
- green
- Wildlife value
- songbirds, larval host
- Landscape uses
- border, naturalizing
- Native states
- AL, AR, CT, DC, DE, GA, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, MA, MD, MI, MN, MO, MS, NC, ND, NE, NJ, NY, OH, OK, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, VA, VT, WI, WV, WY
Related native plants
More Elymus species
- Bottlebrush Grass (Elymus hystrix)
- Virginia Wild Rye (Elymus virginicus)
- Canada Wild Rye (Elymus canadensis)
- Blue Wildrye (Elymus glaucus)
- Slender Wheatgrass (Elymus trachycaulus)
- Thickspike Wheatgrass (Elymus lanceolatus)