Print Report

CEGL001479 Leymus cinereus Alkaline Wet Meadow

Type Concept Sentence: No Data Available

Common (Translated Scientific) Name: Basin Wildrye Alkaline Wet Meadow

Colloquial Name: Basin Wildrye Alkaline Wet Meadow

Hierarchy Level:  Association

Type Concept: This Great Basin wildrye association is found along lower elevation riparian corridors and some moderately alkaline valley bottomlands from Colorado to the Pacific coast states. Elevations range between 305 and 780 m (1000-2550 feet) in northeastern and central Oregon, between 915 and 1525 m (3000-5000 feet) in the Great Basin, and from 1830 to 2451 m (6000-8036 feet) in western Colorado and southwestern Wyoming. Generally, stands of this type are described as growing on mesic sites with more soil moisture than is available to the surrounding vegetation, including mesic swales and seeps, canyon bottoms, foothill ravines, moist bottomlands, and along streams. Sites are flat to steep and occur on all aspects. Soils are rapidly drained, often with a shallow water table. Soil texture is variable and ranges from silty clays to deep loamy sands derived from alluvium and colluvium. The vegetation is characterized by a tall (over 1.5 m), moderately dense to more typically dense grassland dominated by high cover (30-95%) of Leymus cinereus. Other plants are found mainly between the clumps of Leymus cinereus or on the edges of the dense stands. Scattered shrubs may be present, including Artemisia tridentata, Chrysothamnus viscidiflorus, Ericameria nauseosa, Rhus trilobata, Ribes spp., Rosa spp., and Symphoricarpos oreophilus. Associated species occurring at lower cover include graminoids such as Achnatherum hymenoides, Achnatherum lettermanii, Carex douglasii, Elymus glaucus, Hesperostipa comata, Juncus arcticus ssp. littoralis, Pascopyrum smithii, and introduced species Bromus tectorum and Poa pratensis, and forbs such as Achillea millefolium, Agastache urticifolia, Castilleja spp., Iris missouriensis, Potentilla gracilis var. flabelliformis, Rumex crispus, Sidalcea oregana, Stephanomeria minor, and Vicia americana. Claytonia perfoliata is always associated in northwestern Oregon, while more alkaline forbs (Suaeda spp.) are more important in northern Great Basin valleys.

Diagnostic Characteristics: No Data Available

Rationale for Nominal Species or Physiognomic Features: No Data Available

Classification Comments: Stands of Leymus cinereus are widely distributed in the Intermountain Region and the Great Basin, but little quantitative information is available on the composition of stands in different areas. The type has been very poorly sampled, since there are only a few examples which have not been very altered from grazing and altered stream function. This is therefore a broadly defined association that could be split. This Leymus cinereus Herbaceous Vegetation association includes stands growing on relatively non-saline soils in a variety of landscape positions, and is based on the limited information in the literature. It is also very likely that the types found along alluvial terraces in the somewhat alkaline, mid- to high-elevation valleys in the Blue Mountains and the Basin and Range are very different from the non-alkaline, low-elevation stream drainages from the Columbia Basin. Until additional reference sites are found, the type will have to be treated as a single community.

Similar NVC Types: No Data Available
note: No Data Available
Physiognomy and Structure: No Data Available

Floristics: The association is a characteristically tall (over 1.5 m), moderately dense to more typically dense grassland dominated by high cover (30-95%) of Leymus cinereus (= Elymus cinereus). Other plants are found mainly between the clumps of Leymus cinereus or on the edges of the dense stands. Scattered shrubs may be present, including Amelanchier utahensis, Artemisia tridentata, Chrysothamnus viscidiflorus, Ericameria nauseosa (= Chrysothamnus nauseosus), Purshia tridentata, Rhus trilobata, Ribes spp., Rosa spp., and Symphoricarpos oreophilus. Associated species occurring at lower cover include graminoids such as Achnatherum hymenoides, Achnatherum lettermanii, Carex douglasii, Elymus glaucus, Hesperostipa comata, Juncus arcticus ssp. littoralis (= Juncus balticus), Pascopyrum smithii, and introduced species Bromus tectorum and Poa pratensis, and forbs such as Achillea millefolium, Agastache urticifolia, Balsamorhiza sagittata, Castilleja spp., Eriogonum brevicaule, Iris missouriensis, Iva axillaris, Mertensia oblongifolia, Pteryxia terebinthina (= Cymopterus terebinthinus), Potentilla gracilis var. flabelliformis (= Potentilla flabelliformis), Rumex crispus, Sidalcea oregana, Stephanomeria minor, and Vicia americana. Claytonia perfoliata (= Montia perfoliata) is always associated in northwestern Oregon, while more alkaline forbs (Suaeda spp.) are more important in northern Great Basin valleys.

Dynamics:  Walker and Brotherson (1982) describe a process by which stands of Leymus cinereus are established and maintained in a matrix of sagebrush-steppe on sites disturbed by badger digging. If badgers abandon a site, the Leymus cinereus is gradually replaced by shrubs and lower grasses from the surrounding vegetation matrix, and this replacement may be hastened by livestock grazing on the young Leymus cinereus shoots. Other references to Leymus cinereus stands do not describe this dependence on disturbance.
Environmental Description:  This association is found along lower elevation riparian corridors and some moderately alkaline valley bottomlands. Elevations range between 305 and 780 m (1000-2550 feet) in northeastern and central Oregon, between 915 and 1525 m (3000-5000 feet) in the Great Basin, and from 1830 to 2450 m (6000-8036 feet) in western Colorado and southwestern Wyoming. Generally, stands tend to be patchy and grow on mesic sites with more soil moisture than is available to the surrounding vegetation, including mesic swales and seeps (Thilenius et al. 1995), foothill ravines (Knight et al. 1976), moist bottomlands (Stoddart 1941), along streams (Mueggler and Stewart 1980), and on gentle slopes in canyon bottoms in Oregon. Sites are flat to steep and occur on all aspects.

Soils are rapidly drained, often with a shallow water table. Soil texture is variable and ranges from silty clays to deep loamy sands. Parent materials are alluvium or colluvium derived from a variety of parent materials, including sandstone, shale, and volcanic rocks. Upland (i.e., non-riparian) stands of basin wildrye may grow on finer-textured soils than does the surrounding shrub-steppe vegetation (Knight et al. 1976), or the soils may be of the same texture but deeper due to badger digging (Walker and Brotherson 1982). Riparian stands have been described as growing on saline-alkaline soils (Mueggler and Stewart 1980), deep, rich soils free from high quantities of alkali (Aldous and Shantz 1924), and heavy soils (Stoddart 1941).
Geographic Range: This type is found mainly in the Great Basin and the Intermountain Region, and just reaches the western part of the Northern Great Plains.

Nations: US

States/Provinces:  CA, CO, ID, MT, NV, OR, UT, WA, WY


Confidence Level: High

Confidence Level Comments: No Data Available
Grank: G2G3Q

Greasons: No Data Available
Type Name Database Code Classification Code
Class 2 Shrub & Herb Vegetation Class C02 2
Subclass 2.C Shrub & Herb Wetland Subclass S44 2.C
Formation 2.C.5 Salt Marsh Formation F035 2.C.5
Division 2.C.5.Nd North American Western Interior Brackish Marsh, Playa & Shrubland Division D036 2.C.5.Nd
Macrogroup 2.C.5.Nd.1 Warm & Cool Desert Alkali-Saline Marsh, Playa & Shrubland Macrogroup M082 2.C.5.Nd.1
Group 2.C.5.Nd.1.a Saltgrass - Lemmon''s Alkali Grass - Saltwort species Alkaline-Saline Marsh & Playa Group G538 2.C.5.Nd.1.a
Alliance A1329 Basin Wildrye - Beardless Wildrye Alkaline Wet Meadow Alliance A1329 2.C.5.Nd.1.a
Association CEGL001479 Basin Wildrye Alkaline Wet Meadow CEGL001479 2.C.5.Nd.1.a
Concept Lineage: This type (CEGL001483) merged into CEGL001479.

Predecessors: No Data Available

Obsolete Names: No Data Available

Obsolete Parents: No Data Available
Synonomy: > Elymus cinereus / Agropyron smithii Habitat Type (possible) (Mueggler and Stewart 1980) [Stands briefly described by Mueggler and Stewart (1980) from western Montana apparently belong to this type, although the species composition of their stands is unclear.]
= Elymus cinereus Great Basin Grassland (Baker 1984a)
< Elymus cinereus Vegetation Type (Thilenius et al. 1995) [Stands of the Elymus cinereus herbaceous vegetation type of Thilenius et al. (1995), growing on mesic swells and seeps, represent stands of this type at the eastern edge of its geographic range.]
= Leymus cinereus Association (Crowe et al. 2004)
= Basin Wildrye Herbaceous Vegetation (Leymus cinereus Herbaceous Vegetation) (Bell et al. 2009)
< Giant wildrye (Elymus condensatus) Vegetation Type (Aldous and Shantz 1924) [The giant wildrye vegetation type of Aldous and Shantz (1924) apparently includes stands of this type, although they do not list any other species present with the Leymus cinereus.]
> Great Basin Wild-rye Mesic Grassland (Knight et al. 1976) [Stands of the Great Basin Wild-rye mesic grassland of Knight et al. (1976) in south-central Wyoming belong to this type.]
Concept Author(s): G.P. Jones and M.P. Murray

Author of Description: G.P. Jones, M.P. Murray, K.A. Schulz

Acknowledgements: No Data Available

Version Date: 01-17-08
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