Elymus hystrix

Elymus hystrix, commonly called eastern bottlebrush grass, is a cool-season herbaceous perennial bunchgrass in the Poaceae family ranging from approximately 75 to 135 cm in height. The plant produces loose tufts of broad, flat, green to bluish-green leaf blades and erect culms terminating in a distinctive open spike 8-15 cm long in which the widely spreading, awn-tipped spikelets radiate at right angles to the rachis, giving a bottlebrush appearance. Unlike most grasses, glumes surrounding the spikelets are reduced or absent. Tetraploid and self-compatible, the species flowers in late spring to early summer and is native to deciduous woodlands, woodland edges, ravines, and streamside thickets across eastern North America. It tolerates partial shade and rocky, moist soils. The grass serves as a larval host for the northern pearly eye butterfly and is occasionally cultivated as an ornamental for its striking inflorescence.