| Author | Honda | |
| Distribution | Discovered in NC in the lower Piedmont of Wake County in 2020 by Brian England at the Wilkerson Nature Preserve Park. Similar plants also seen in nearby Johnston County (fide B. England). Specimens deposited at the herbarium USU and possibly others.
Native to eastern Asia (eastern China, Japan, Korea). In N.A. the NC plants represent the second record; the first was at a ballast site in Portland OR prior to 1951. Not in BONAP or Weakley (2018). | |
| Abundance | Local on the landscape, but patches may contain hundreds of plants. | |
| Habitat | "field edge adjacent to forest, north-facing hillside." | |
| Phenology | Flowering and fruiting May-July. | |
| Identification | The plants are about 3 feet tall, with glabrate culms and leaf sheaths. The spikes conspicuously nod on living plants. It has sessile, unpaired spikelets, with lemma awns 20-40 mm long. | |
| Taxonomic Comments | A synonym is E. kamoji. The identity of England's plant was extensively debated and discussed by B. England, J.J.N. Campbell, and M. Barkworth.
Ryegrasses or Wild-ryes (genus Elymus) are noted by their evenly spaced leaves and elongate, terminal inflorescence that recall cultivated rye or wheat. Each floret produces several long, skinny awns (shortest in E. virginicus sensu stricto). Identification of some species requires a dissecting scope or at least a 10x handlens. | |
| Other Common Name(s) | No common name could be found for the species, considering that this appears to be a first North American record. The website editors simply use the scientific epithet for now. | |
| State Rank | SE | |
| Global Rank | GNR | |
| State Status | | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | | |
| USACE-emp | | |
