Plants perennial, cespitose. Culms (35)60-100(150) cm. Blades2-8 mm wide, glabrous or scabridulous. Spikes (3.5)5-8(11) cm; disarticulation in the rachis, at the nodes, occurring readily. Glumes 8-11 mm, densely scabrous on the keels, acuminate or awned, awns 3-4 mm; lemmas 8-14 mm, awns 2-25 mm. 2n = 14.
Secale strictum is native to Eurasia and, as a disjunct, to South
Africa. It grows on dry, stony or sandy soils, often in mountainous areas.
So far as is known, it is not established in the Flora region.
Hitchcock (1951) reported that Secale
strictum had become established
around the Agricultural Experiment Station in Pullman, Washington, but
it is no longer present there. Prior to 1931, the station worked on development
of a Secale cereale × S. strictum strain that would
combine the perennial habit with good seed production. The attempt had
been abandoned by 1931, but hybrid seed had been distributed as 'Michaels
Grass'. It was originally thought to be derived from a Triticum
aestivum × Leymus racemosus cross,
but subsequent studies, both morphological and cytological, revealed that
it was S. cereale × S. strictum.