Publication: Meddel. Grønland, Biosci. 15: 12. 1984.

Origin: Native

Herbarium search: CPNWH

Notes: FNA24: "Elymus violaceus grows in arctic, subalpine, and alpine habitats, on calcareous or dolomitic rocks, from Alaska through arctic Canada to Greenland, and south in the Rocky Mountains to southern New Mexico. In western North America, it forms intermediates with E. scribneri, E. trachycaulus, and E. alaskanus. It is treated here as including E. alaskanus subsp. latiglumis [≡ Agropyron latiglume], E. alaskanus being restricted to plants with relatively short glumes that are often found in valleys and at lower elevations than E. violaceus. Western plants of E. violaceous tend to be more glaucous, have shorter spikes and spikelets, and more obovate glumes than plants from Greenland but, until more is known about the extent and genetic basis of the variation in and among E. violaceus, E. alaskanus, and E. trachycaulus, formal taxonomic recognition seems inappropriate."

Last updated 12/5/2023 by David Giblin.