Africa
Northern Africa: Algeria; Egypt; Morocco; Tunisia
Asia-Temperate
Caucasus: Armenia; Azerbaijan; Georgia; Russian Federation - Dagestan; Russian Federation-Ciscaucasia - Ciscaucasia
Western Asia: Cyprus; Israel; Syria; Turkey
Europe
East Europe: Russian Federation-European part - European part; Ukraine
Southeastern Europe: Albania; Bulgaria; Croatia; Greece; Italy; Romania; Slovenia
Southwestern Europe: France; Portugal; Spain
Accepted name in some databases is Thinopyrum elongatum, Elymus ponticus, Thinopyrum ponticum, or Elymus elongatus.
Tall wheatgrass is a spring/summer active perennial grass, well suited to land affected by moderate subsoil salinity and moderate waterlogging. It has long, blue-green ribbed leaves that are quite tough. Tall wheatgrass can send up seed stems to 2 metres and the plants form thick clumps which, if allowed to grow unchecked, can make traffic very difficult. It is often noticeable in late summer as the only green grass on salt affected land. Tall wheatgrass can produce significant biomass given sufficient summer moisture. It is strongly tussock forming and can quickly become clumpy and unpalatable to livestock if not well managed. In addition, the clumps or tussocks can become so large as to make a paddock almost untrafficable. If allowed to run up to seed it can spread and colonise areas where it is unwanted, particularly along watercourses.
Tall wheatgrass is one of those species that has changed its Latin name a number of times. It has been variously referred to as Agropyron elongatum, Thinopyrum elongatum, Elytrigia pontica, Elytrigia elongata and (most recently) as Thinopyrum ponticum. Tall wheatgrass was imported into Australia via the USA in the 1940s from lines originally collected in northern Turkey. Its main value then was for soil conservation on saline areas. To ensure good ground cover, landholders were encouraged to allow it to seed in the first year of growth, but this led to its spread as a weed into non-target areas. It was introduced to the U.S. from Turkey in 1909 and is now found throughout all western states of the U.S. and most Canadian provinces.