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Bottlebrush grass

2011 June 23

By Ken Moore
Flora Columnist

For years and years, I’ve been admiring bottlebrush grass, a wild grass of the open forests and woods’ edges, and now I enjoy it all around me day after day. It’s one of those plants that doesn’t shout out at you every time you look its way; rather, it can go almost unnoticed, and suddenly there

PHOTO BY KEN MOORE. Bottlebrush grass stands out against a wooden shed wall.

it is, almost a surprise in the very spot I saw it yesterday and the day before. And every time I notice it, I quietly say to myself, “Wow, what a great plant,” just as if I’m discovering it for the first time. Simple pleasures really are priceless!

Several years ago, I had to rely on finding it only occasionally here and there along a woodland path. I once brought home a handful for a dried arrangement, and at the same time I casually scattered a few seed spikes around the edges of the yard wishing that nature would produce a few plants for me.

A couple of years later, I spied a few over in the edge of the woods next to the drive. Then, each year, a few more clumps appeared here and there, and now I have them in several places at far edges and up close near the steps and along the deck.

I first learned this grass as Hystrix patula. Hystrix is from the Greek Hustrix, which means porcupine, an obvious reference to the bristly appearance of the flower spikes. The current official name is Elymus hystrix, so if you learned the old name you at least have a jumpstart on learning half of the new name. Elymus is the genus name for native wild rye grasses, and the bottlebrush is distinctive because the flower spikes are much more open than those of the other species.

These native wild ryes occur throughout the nation and, where abundant, are important forage grasses forming part of the native hay. In contrast, our bottlebrush (it does resemble a bottlebrush scrubbing utensil) is not an important forage grass because it does not occur in great abundance. It is, however, an indicator of a natural forest of high quality.

Bottlebrush definitely has value as an ornamental, particularly in a natural garden where one does not need to be particular about watering and other worries of cultivated gardens. Unlike the aggressive river oats, another ornamental native grass, bottlebrush does not vigorously claim territory, denying other cherished plants their own plot of ground.

Last week when I visited my wild-gardening friend Pete Schubert in his Durham garden, I was blown away by the stand of bottlebrush grass on the edge of his woods. The flower spikes of his bottlebrush are almost snow white and seemed to glow against the shadows of his woods. My bottlebrush plants are not that showy. I’m encouraging Pete to multiply his plants and, who knows, in a few years we may have local nurseries offering Elymus hystrix, “Pete’s White.” Perhaps we’ll simply call it “Pete’s White Bottlebrush.”

Another of life’s simple pleasures!

Email Ken Moore at flora@carrborocitizen.com.

Find previous Ken Moore Citizen columns at The Annotated Flora.

PHOTO BY ROBERT FOYLE. “Pete’s White Bottlebrush”

One Response
  1. K B Perkinson permalink
    January 28, 2012

    I was considering planting some in my yard back in Illinois. Your article and photo convinced me to order. Thanks

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