Rangeland Ecology & Management

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Taxonomy of the Crested Wheatgrasses (Agropyron)
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Author
Dewey, Douglas R.
Publisher
Utah State University
Publication Year
1986
Body

The purposes of this paper are to review the position of the genus Agropyron in the tribe Triticeae and to examine alternative taxonomic treatments within Agropyron. When Agropyron is defined as those species with the P genome, it
becomes a small genus with less than 10 species consisting of only the crested wheatgrasses. This narrow definition of Agropyron is now accepted in Europe and Asia; North Americans should accept that same definition. As treated in 1976 by N. N. Tzvelev in Poaceae URSS, Agropyron consists of 10 species and 9 subspecies, but most of those taxa are
endemics of little interest to North American users of crested wheatgrass. North Americans need to consider only three species: 1) A. cristatum (L.) Gaertn. sensu lato, 2) A. desertorum (Fisch. ex Link) Schult., and 3) A. fragile (Roth) Candargy [ =A. sibiricum (Willd.) Beauv.].

Language
English
Resource Type
Text
Document Type
Conference Paper
Conference Name
Crested Wheatgrass Symposium Proceedings
Collection
Keywords
North America
crested wheatgrass (Agropyron cristatum)
North America
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