Eriocoma hymenoides
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Speciesbox Eriocoma hymenoides (common names: Indian ricegrass and sand rice grass) is a cool-season, perennial bunchgrass. It is native to western North America.
Description
In the wild, Eriocoma hymenoides typically grows Template:Convert tall and Template:Convert wide.<ref name=FEIS>Tirmenstein, D. 1999. Achnatherum hymenoides. In: Fire Effects Information System, [Online]. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer). Retrieved on 2009-04-24.</ref> It has narrow, rolled leaf blades.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Mojave Desert Wildflowers, Pam MacKay, 2nd Ed., p. 287</ref>
Distribution and habitat
Eriocoma hymenoides is native to western North America east of the Cascades from British Columbia and Alberta south to southern California, northeastern Mexico, and Texas.
It grows in a variety of habitats from desert scrub to ponderosa pine forests. It can live in sandy to clayey textured soils.<ref name="FEIS" /> It can stabilize shifting sand.<ref>Fagan, Damian (2012). Canyon Country Wildflowers, 2nd ed., Morris Bush Publishing in cooperation with Canyonlands Natural History Association, Template:ISBN, p. 151.</ref>
Cultivation
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Indian ricegrass is an important food for wild grazers such as bison, bighorn sheep, elk, mule deer, pronghorns, and jackrabbits. For some of these species, it is especially vital in late winter, as it produces green shoots earlier than other grasses. The seeds are heavily consumed by many rodents and birds. Seed caching rodents may enhance seedling survival and long-term survival of the plant.
Indian ricegrass is preferentially consumed by cattle and is an early casualty of overgrazing.
Uses
In the past, the grass was a staple food of Native Americans, especially when the maize crop failed, and for non-agricultural tribes. Seed of the ricegrass was gathered and ground into meal or flour and made into bread. Since 2000, the ricegrass has been cultivated in Montana and marketed under the trade name Montina as a gluten-free grain.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The Zuni people used the ground seeds as a staple before the availability of corn.<ref>Stevenson, Matilda Coxe 1915 Ethnobotany of the Zuni Indians. SI-BAE Annual Report #30 (p.67)</ref><ref>Castetter, Edward F. 1935 Ethnobiological Studies in the American Southwest I. Uncultivated Native Plants Used as Sources of Food. University of New Mexico Bulletin 4(1):1-44 (p. 27)</ref>
In culture
It was officially recognized as the Nevada state grass in 1977,<ref>Nevada Revised Statutes, Chapter 235 Section 055. Retrieved on 2008-03-27</ref><ref>Nevada Facts - State grass Template:Webarchive. Retrieved on 2008-03-27.</ref> and as the Utah state grass in 1990.<ref>Utah Code Section 63-13-5.5. State symbols. Template:Webarchive Retrieved on 2008-03-27.</ref><ref>Utah State Symbols - Indian Ricegrass Template:Webarchive Pioneer - Utah's Online Library. Retrieved on 2010-06-29</ref>