Notice of Release of ‘Bannock II’ Thickspike wheatgrass

Abstract

The USDA Agricultural Research Service announces the cultivar release of ‘Bannock II’ thickspike wheatgrass (Elymus lanceolatus (Scribn. & J.G. Sm.) Gould [Poaceae]). ‘Bannock II’, a 5-clone synthetic, is the result of hybridization among selected genotypes from thickspike wheatgrass cultivars ‘Bannock’ and ‘Schwendimar’ followed by 2 cycles of recurrent selection. The release of ‘Bannock II’ thickspike wheatgrass expands native germplasm available to enhance the success of conservation and revegetation plantings in the Great Basin, Snake River Plain, and Columbia Plateau regions of the Intermountain US. Genetically distinct from ‘Bannock’ and ‘Schwendimar’, ‘Bannock II’ possesses greater seedling establishment and seed production then ‘Bannock’, ‘Critana’, ‘Elbee’, ‘Schwendimar’, and ‘Sodar’.