Elymus dahuricus Seeds | Dahurian Wild Rye
LATIN NAME: Elymus dahuricus
COMMON NAME: Dahurian Wild Rye
Plant Profile
Dahurian wild rye is a tufted perennial grass of the family Poaceae, native to the steppes of Siberia, Mongolia and northern China, where it grows on dry slopes, sandy riverbanks and the edges of saline flats. It reaches sixty to a hundred and forty centimetres, with flat, slightly rough leaves and dense, bristly spikes that ripen through July and August.
The spikes carry long awns, and a stand in seed has a pale, whiskery look that separates it from the brome grasses it often grows beside. It is deeply rooted and long-lived, and it survives both the minus forty winters of Inner Mongolia and the saline soils that ring the dry lake beds.
Science & Biotechnology
Elymus is one of the taxonomically harder genera of the wheat tribe. Its species are polyploids built from combinations of the St and H genomes, and they cross with Hordeum and Leymus where they meet, so the boundaries between species are porous. Elymus dahuricus is one of the more stable entities in the group, and it is largely self-pollinating, which keeps local populations distinct.
The species is a target for saline-alkali land restoration in north-east China, where it grows at pH values above nine and tolerates exchangeable sodium that kills most forage grasses. It has also been tested on mine tailings and on the loess plateau, where its fibrous roots hold soil through the summer storms. Its seed shatters soon after ripening, which is the main obstacle to using it as a seed crop.
Uses & Benefits
It is cut for hay in the steppe regions, where it gives one good cut and a lighter second one, and it is grazed early in the season before the stems harden. The feed value is moderate, better than wheatgrass and poorer than the ryegrasses, and it is valued more for reliability in dry years than for quality.
In restoration it is sown with other natives on degraded grassland, on road embankments and on the shores of saline lakes, usually as part of a mix rather than alone. It is also one of the grasses used to stabilise sand in the Horqin and the Mu Us, since it establishes from seed without irrigation and lives long enough to hold a site until shrubs close over it.
Growing from Seed
Sow in autumn or early spring, at fifteen to twenty kilograms per hectare, into a firm, weed-free seedbed. The seed needs no pretreatment and comes up in ten to fourteen days at 15-25 °C. Drill it at one to two centimetres; deeper sowing reduces emergence sharply.
Keep the site free of weeds through the first summer, since the seedlings tiller slowly and are easily swamped. Once established the plant needs nothing: it is drought-tolerant, winter-hardy and unpalatable to stock until it is young. For a seed crop, watch the spikes daily as they ripen, because the seed sheds within a few days of turning brown.
Our Take
A tough steppe grass for hard ground: saline, dry, cold and neglected. It is slow to start and then effectively permanent, which is what a reclamation site needs.
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