• GENERAL DISTRIBUTION
• ECOSYSTEMS
• STATES
• BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS
• KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS
• SAF COVER TYPES
• SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES
• HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES

GENERAL DISTRIBUTION:

Desert wheatgrass is an introduced species, originally from Russian and Siberian steppe habitats. It has been planted from Alaska south to California, throughout western Canada, east in the United States to Ohio, and south to Texas. It was first successfully established in the United States between 1907 and 1913 [22]. Desert wheatgrass and crested wheatgrass were considered distinct species upon their introduction to the United States in 1906, but since, the two species have often been referred to and treated as one [21]. Crested and desert wheatgrass became prevalent in the United States in the 1930s when they were used to seed abandoned cropland [83]. Desert wheatgrass is more commonly used than crested wheatgrass throughout the West and especially in the more arid regions of the Great Basin and Southwest. Desert and crested wheatgrass seedings have been established on 10 million acres (3.2 million ha) [4] and, by some accounts, as much as 26 million acres (10.4 million ha) in North America [61].

ECOSYSTEMS:

FRES21 Ponderosa pine
FRES29 Sagebrush
FRES30 Desert shrub
FRES31 Shinnery
FRES32 Texas savanna
FRES33 Southwestern shrubsteppe
FRES34 Chaparral-mountain shrub
FRES35 Pinyon-juniper
FRES36 Mountain grasslands
FRES37 Mountain meadows
FRES38 Plains grasslands
FRES39 Prairie
FRES40 Desert grasslands
FRES42 Annual grasslands

STATES:

AK   AZ   AR   CA   CO   IA   ID   IL   IN   KS    MO   MT
NE   NV   NM   ND   OR   SD   TX   UT   WA   WY

AB   BC

BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS:

 3 Southern Pacific Border
 4 Sierra Mountains
 5 Columbia Plateau
 6 Upper Basin and Range
 7 Lower Basin and Range
 8 Northern Rocky Mountains
 9 Middle Rocky Mountains
10 Wyoming Basin
11 Southern Rocky Mountains
12 Colorado Plateau
13 Rocky Mountain Piedmont
14 Great Plains
15 Black Hills Uplift
16 Upper Missouri Basin and Broken Lands

KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS:

No entry

SAF COVER TYPES:

 42 Bur oak
 68 Mesquite
209 Bristlecone pine
210 Interior Douglas-fir
218 Lodgepole pine
219 Limber pine
220 Rocky Mountain juniper
233 Oregon white oak
236 Bur oak
237 Interior ponderosa pine
238 Western juniper
239 Pinyon-juniper
241 Western live oak
242 Mesquite
243 Sierra Nevada mixed conifer

SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES:

101 Bluebunch wheatgrass
102 Idaho fescue
103 Green fescue
104 Antelope bitterbrush-bluebunch wheatgrass
105 Antelope bitterbrush-Idaho fescue
106 Bluegrass scabland
107 Western juniper/big sagebrush/bluebunch wheatgrass
108 Alpine Idaho fescue
109 Ponderosa pine shrubland
110 Ponderosa pine-grassland
201 Blue oak woodland
206 Chamise chaparral
207 Scrub oak mixed chaparral
209 Montane shrubland
210 Bitterbrush
212 Blackbush
215 Valley grassland
301 Bluebunch wheatgrass-blue grama
302 Bluebunch wheatgrass-Sandberg bluegrass
303 Bluebunch wheatgrass-western wheatgrass
304 Idaho fescue-bluebunch wheatgrass
305 Idaho fescue-Richardson needlegrass
306 Idaho fescue-slender wheatgrass
309 Idaho fescue-western wheatgrass
310 Needle-and-thread-blue grama
311 Rough fescue-bluebunch wheatgrass
312 Rough fescue-Idaho fescue
314 Big sagebrush-bluebunch wheatgrass
315 Big sagebrush-Idaho fescue
316 Big sagebrush-rough fescue
317 Bitterbrush-bluebunch wheatgrass
318 Bitterbrush-Idaho fescue
319 Bitterbrush-rough fescue
320 Black sagebrush-bluebunch wheatgrass
321 Black sagebrush-Idaho fescue
322 Curlleaf mountain-mahogany-bluebunch wheatgrass
324 Threetip sagebrush-Idaho fescue
401 Basin big sagebrush
402 Mountain big sagebrush
403 Wyoming big sagebrush
404 Threetip sagebrush
405 Black sagebrush
406 Low sagebrush
407 Stiff sagebrush
408 Other sagebrush types
412 Juniper-pinyon woodland
413 Gambel oak
503 Arizona chaparral
504 Juniper-pinyon pine woodland
509 Transition between oak-juniper woodland and mahogany-oak association
601 Bluestem prairie
602 Bluestem-prairie sandreed
603 Prairie sandreed-needlegrass
604 Bluestem-grama prairie
605 Sandsage prairie
606 Wheatgrass-bluestem-needlegrass
607 Wheatgrass-needlegrass
608 Wheatgrass-grama-needlegrass
609 Wheatgrass-grama
610 Wheatgrass
611 Blue grama-buffalograss
612 Sagebrush-grass
613 Fescue grassland
614 Crested wheatgrass
703 Black grama-sideoats grama
704 Blue grama-western wheatgrass
705 Blue grama-galleta
707 Blue grama-sideoats grama-black grama
708 Bluestem-dropseed
709 Bluestem-grama
710 Bluestem prairie
711 Bluestem-sacahuista prairie
713 Grama-muhly-threeawn
714 Grama-bluestem
715 Grama-buffalograss
716 Grama-feathergrass
717 Little bluestem-Indiangrass-Texas wintergrass
718 Mesquite-grama
719 Mesquite-liveoak-seacoast bluestem
721 Sand bluestem-little bluestem (plains)
722 Sand sagebrush-mixed prairie
728 Mesquite-granjeno-acacia
733 Juniper-oak
734 Mesquite-oak
735 Sideoats grama-sumac-juniper

HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES:

Desert wheatgrass has been planted throughout North America in a variety of ecosystems; the appearance of the species within the following habitat types does not necessarily indicate that desert wheatgrass is particularly well adapted to those climatic conditions.

In the Great Basin of Nevada, desert wheatgrass thrives in native communities of big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata), black sagebrush (A. nova), Indian ricegrass (Achnatherum hymenoides), bottlebrush squirreltail (Elymus elymoides), Sandberg bluegrass (Poa secunda), and bluebunch wheatgrass (Pseudoroegneria spicata) [23].

In Nevada, desert wheatgrass appears in the big sagebrush/desert wheatgrass community with green rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus viscidiflorus), slenderbrush eriogonum (Eriogonum microthecum), cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum), prairie junegrass (Koeleria macrantha), bottlebrush squirreltail, blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis), Thurber needlegrass (Stipa thurberiana), tailcup lupine (Lupinus caudatus) and scarlet globemallow (Sphaeralcea coccinea) [11].

Also in Nevada, desert wheatgrass occurs in the Utah juniper (Juniperus osteosperma)/big sagebrush/desert wheatgrass community with green rabbitbrush, broom snakeweed (Gutierrezia sarothrae), rubber rabbitbrush (C. nauseosus), Stansbury cliffrose (Purshia mexicana var. stansburiana), slenderbrush eriogonum, and plains prickly-pear (Opuntia polyacantha). Minor members of the community are bottlebrush squirreltail and cheatgrass, and occasional Sandberg bluegrass, western wheatgrass (Pascopyrum smithii), Indian ricegrass, blue grama, bloomer fleabane (Erigeron bloomeri), longleaf phlox (Phlox longifolia), spreading phlox (P. diffusa), tailcup lupine, scarlet globemallow, hollyleaf clover (Trifolium gymnocarpon), and pale agoseris (Agoseris glauca) [11].

A vegetation typing in which desert wheatgrass is listed as a community dominant is given below.

Vegetation and soils of the Pine and Mathews Canyon watersheds [11]

Related categories for SPECIES: Agropyron desertorum | Desert Wheatgrass