An ethnobotanical study of the genus Elymus

Abstract

Grains of domesticated grasses (Poaceae) have long been a global food source and constitute the bulk of calories in the human diet. Recent efforts to establish more sustainable agricultural systems have focused in part on the development of herbaceous, perennial crops. Perennial plants have extensive root systems that stabilize soil and absorb water and nutrients at greater rates than their annual counterparts; consequently, perennial grasses are important potential candidates for grain domestication. While most contemporary grass domesticates consumed by humans are annual plants, there are over 7,000 perennial grass species that remain largely unexplored for domestication purposes. Documenting ethnobotanical uses of wild perennial grasses could aid in the evaluation of candidate species for de novo crop development. The objectives of this study are 1) to provide an ethnobotanical survey of the grass genus Elymus; and 2) to investigate floret size variation in species used by people. Elymus includes approximately 150 perennial species distributed in temperate and subtropical regions, of which at least 21 taxa have recorded nutritional, medicinal, and/or material uses. Elymus species used for food by humans warrant pre-breeding and future analyses to assess potential utility in perennial agricultural systems.