Leymus chinensis Seeds | Chinese Leymus

Slender spikes of Chinese leymus above a dense sward of blue-green grass — Chinese Leymus (*Leymus chinensis*): Poaceae, the dominant grass of the eastern Eurasian steppe.

LATIN NAME: Leymus chinensis

COMMON NAME: Chinese Leymus

Plant Profile

Chinese leymus is a rhizomatous perennial grass of the family Poaceae, native to the steppes of northern China, Mongolia and eastern Siberia, where it is the dominant species over enormous areas. It grows forty to ninety centimetres, with flat, blue-green leaves and a slender, upright spike of paired spikelets that flowers in June and July.

It spreads by long, pale rhizomes that run just below the surface and form a continuous sward, and it is one of the most grazing-tolerant grasses of the steppe, since its growing points sit at ground level where stock cannot reach them. Two colour forms are recognised in the field, one grey-green and one yellow-green, and they differ in vigour and in salt tolerance.

Science & Biotechnology

The species is the subject of a large grassland-science literature, because the Leymus chinensis steppe is both the main grazing resource of Inner Mongolia and one of the most degraded ecosystems in China. Long-term trials have looked at how grazing intensity, mowing and nitrogen deposition shift the balance between this grass and the bunchgrasses and forbs that grow with it.

Its seed production is unreliable. The plant is largely cross-pollinated, flowering is uneven within a spike, and a high proportion of the florets set no seed at all, which is why natural regeneration is slow and why restoration depends on rhizome planting as much as on sowing. The two colour forms also differ in their response to salt and to drought, and breeders have used that variation to select lines for saline land.

Uses & Benefits

It is the most important forage grass of the eastern steppe, cut for hay in late summer and grazed through the season, and it is valued for palatability as much as for bulk. It is also sown on saline-alkali land and on degraded grassland, where its rhizomes bind the soil and its litter returns organic matter to a thin, alkaline topsoil.

In a garden it makes a bold, blue-green ground cover for a dry bank or a large gravel planting, and it is one of the few grasses that will spread through compacted, alkaline soil. It needs room, since it runs, and it should not be planted in a small border without a root barrier. The seed heads are good in dried arrangements and hold their colour through winter.

Growing from Seed

Sow in spring at 15-25 °C on the surface of a firm seedbed, and cover no more than half a centimetre. Fresh seed germinates in two to three weeks; stored seed loses viability quickly, so sow the current season’s crop. Water lightly and often until the seedlings tiller.

The seedlings are slow for the first season and are easily lost to weeds, so keep the patch clean and do not graze or mow it in the first year. Once the rhizomes begin to run, in the second or third summer, the plant takes care of itself. For a quick cover on a large site, rhizome fragments planted in spring establish far faster than seed.

Our Take

The grass that made the Mongolian steppe, and a tough ground cover for alkaline, compacted ground. Slow from seed, then unstoppable.

Herb Seeds