Secale x derzhavinii Tzvelev (S. cereale x strictum) (Cult.) – An exceptional alien. Recorded in 1999, 2011 and 2012 on the unloading quay for cereals at the Amerikadok in the port of Antwerpen. Rather few plants were seen in 2011 but by 2012 several patches were observed throughout the yard.
Secale x derzhavinii is an artificial fertile hybrid raised in an experimental field in the former USSR. It is now introduced into cultivation as “perennial hybrid rye”. It is a more or less glaucous plant that combines features of both parents: it is obviously perennial (like Secale strictum) but the rachis of the inflorescence is tough (not or very tardily disarticulating, like in S. cereale).
These records were initially erroneously ascribed to Secale strictum. The latter also is a perennial species but its inflorescence rachis is very fragile, its awns shorter, culms nearly or completely glabrous below the inflorescence and leaves narrower. Moreover, it usually is a non-weedy species and hence less likely to occur as an alien outside its native distribution range (although it also is sometimes experimentally cultivated and might escape; see Barkworth 2007a).
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Selected literature:
Barkworth M.E. (2007a) Secale. In: Barkworth M.E. & al. (eds.), Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 24: 259-260. Oxford University Press, New York-Oxford.
Tsvelev N. (1973) Conspectus specierum tribus Triticeae Dum. familiae Poaceae in flora URSS. Nov. Sist. Vyssh. Rast. 10: 19-59.