Grass or grass-like · Poaceae
Squirreltail
Elymus elymoides · includes its varieties and subspecies
Squirreltail is recorded as native to 17 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 414 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Squirreltail at a glance
- Native in
- 414 counties, across 17 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3a PLANTS minimum temperature −43°F
- Mature height
- 1.5 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Full sun (shade-intolerant) Low water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 3a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −43°F; zone 3a winters bottom out at −40°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Squirreltail is recorded as native to 17 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 414 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 414 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Arizona 15 counties
- California 43 counties
- Colorado 57 counties
- Idaho 27 counties
- Kansas 36 counties
- Montana 12 counties
- Nebraska 10 counties
- Nevada 17 counties
- New Mexico 30 counties
- North Dakota 5 counties
- Oklahoma 8 counties
- Oregon 26 counties
- South Dakota 7 counties
- Texas 49 counties
- Utah 28 counties
- Washington 23 counties
- Wyoming 21 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Graminoid
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 1.5 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Bunch
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Long
- Active growth period
- Spring
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intolerant (full sun (shade-intolerant))
- Moisture use
- Low water use
- Drought tolerance
- High
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- None
- Precipitation range
- 5 to 16 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Medium and fine
- pH range
- 6 to 8.4
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- High
- Salinity tolerance
- Low
- Fertility requirement
- Low
- Minimum root depth
- 12 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −43°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 90
- Fire tolerance
- Medium
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Yellow
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Mid Spring
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Field Collections Only
- Family
- Poaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- ELEL5
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Elymus elymoides (PLANTS symbol ELEL5), including 2 varieties and subspecies folded into the species.
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources