Agropyron cristatum(L.) Gaertn.

Crested wheat grasscrested wheatgrass

WFO wfo-0000842335 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Agropyron cristatum, photographed by Aleksei Baushev
fig. a Aleksei Baushev, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-06-11 / obs. 205253391
Agropyron cristatum, photographed by Юрий Данилевский (Yuriy Danilevsky)
fig. b Юрий Данилевский (Yuriy Danilevsky), CC BY 4.0 / obs. 205214585
Agropyron cristatum, photographed by Casey H. Richart
fig. c Casey H. Richart, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 202613097
Agropyron cristatum, photographed by Иван Ковтун Ivan Kovtun
fig. d Иван Ковтун Ivan Kovtun, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 200502681
Agropyron cristatum, photographed by John Gaskin
fig. e John Gaskin, CC0 1.0 / obs. 200383270
Agropyron cristatum, photographed by Eric Lamb
fig. f Eric Lamb, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 189766003
Agropyron cristatum, photographed by Daniel S.
fig. g Daniel S., CC BY 4.0 / obs. 181370669
Agropyron cristatum, photographed by John Gaskin
fig. h John Gaskin, CC0 1.0 / obs. 179184964

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 50 botanical countries

Regions where Agropyron cristatum is native: Egypt, Morocco, Afghanistan, Altay, Amur, Buryatiya, China North-Central, Chita, Inner Mongolia, Iran, Iraq, Irkutsk, Kamchatka, Kazakhstan, Khabarovsk, Kirgizstan, Korea, Krasnoyarsk, Magadan, Manchuria, Mongolia, North Caucasus, Primorye, Qinghai, Tadzhikistan, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, Turkmenistan, Tuva, Uzbekistan, West Siberia, Xinjiang, Yakutiya, Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Central European Russia, Czechia-Slovakia, East European Russia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Krym, Northwest European Russia, NW. Balkan Pen., Romania, South European Russia, Spain, Türkiye-in-Europe, Ukraine EgyptMoroccoAfghanistanAltayAmurBuryatiyaChina North-CentralChitaInner MongoliaIranIraqIrkutskKamchatkaKazakhstanKhabarovskKirgizstanKrasnoyarskMagadanManchuriaMongoliaNorth CaucasusPrimoryeQinghaiTadzhikistanTranscaucasusTürkiyeTurkmenistanTuvaUzbekistanWest SiberiaXinjiangYakutiyaAlbaniaAustriaBulgariaCentral European RussiaCzechia-SlovakiaEast European RussiaGreeceHungaryItalyKrymNorthwest European RussiaNW. Balkan Pen.RomaniaSouth European RussiaSpainTürkiye-in-EuropeUkraine Korea
Native distribution of Agropyron cristatum, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Afghanistan AFG ASIA-TEMPERATE
Altay ALT
Amur AMU
Buryatiya BRY
China North-Central CHN
Chita CTA
Inner Mongolia CHI
Iran IRN
Iraq IRQ
Irkutsk IRK
Kamchatka KAM
Kazakhstan KAZ
Khabarovsk KHA
Kirgizstan KGZ
Korea KOR
Krasnoyarsk KRA
Magadan MAG
Manchuria CHM
Mongolia MON
North Caucasus NCS
Primorye PRM
Qinghai CHQ
Tadzhikistan TZK
Transcaucasus TCS
Türkiye TUR
Turkmenistan TKM
Tuva TVA
Uzbekistan UZB
West Siberia WSB
Xinjiang CHX
Yakutiya YAK
Albania ALB EUROPE
Austria AUT
Bulgaria BUL
Central European Russia RUC
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
East European Russia RUE
Greece GRC
Hungary HUN
Italy ITA
Krym KRY
Northwest European Russia RUW
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Romania ROM
South European Russia RUS
Spain SPA
Türkiye-in-Europe TUE
Ukraine UKR
Egypt EGY AFRICA
Morocco MOR

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Flowering 103 in flower of 498 examined

Peak flowering in Jun. Each bar is the share of Agropyron cristatum observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 103 of 498 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Also published as 139 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Agropyron aristatum Besser
  • Agropyron barginensis Skvortsov
  • Agropyron brandzae Pantu & Solacolu
  • Agropyron brandzae subsp. ciliatum (Grinţ.) Dihoru & Negrean
  • Agropyron brandzae var. nyaradyanum Morariu
  • Agropyron bulbosum var. ciliatum Grinţ.
  • Agropyron bulbosum var. ciliatum Grinţ.
  • Agropyron bulbosum var. dunense Grinţ.
  • Agropyron bulbosum var. dunensis Grinţ.
  • Agropyron cristatiforme P.K.Sarkar
  • Agropyron cristatum f. calvum (Schur) Boza & Vasic
  • Agropyron cristatum f. hirsutissimum Krylov
  • Agropyron cristatum f. imbricatum (Roem. & Schult.) Bukhteeva
  • Agropyron cristatum f. multiflorum Maire
  • Agropyron cristatum f. pauciflorum Maire
  • Agropyron cristatum f. pectiniforme Bukhteeva
  • Agropyron cristatum f. villosum (Litv.) Bukhteeva
  • Agropyron cristatum subsp. baicalense T.V.Egorova & Sipliv.
  • Agropyron cristatum subsp. brachyatherum (Maire) Dobignard
  • Agropyron cristatum subsp. brandzae (Pantu & Solacolu) Melderis
  • Agropyron cristatum subsp. cristatum
  • Agropyron cristatum subsp. dunense (Grinţ.) Dihoru & Negrean
  • Agropyron cristatum subsp. dunensis (Grinț.) Dihoru & Negrean
  • Agropyron cristatum subsp. erikssonii (Melderis) Á.Löve

and 115 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.