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The crested wheatgrass complex (Agropyron spp. Gaertn) consists of persistent, drought tolerant, tussock grasses, which originate from the steppes of central Asia and are of importance as range grasses on the Great Plains of North America. Amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers were used to examine the interpopulation relationships and to compare variances within and among 12 populations from four Agropyron spp. [Agropyron cristatum (L.) Gaertn, Agropyron desertorum (Fisch ex Link) Schlut, Agropyron fragile (Roth) Candargy and Agropyron mongolicum Keng.] and two interspecific hybrid populations. Euclidean distances were calculated on the basis of marker polymorphism and a cluster analysis was performed on these populations. Fairway, Parkway, and S9240 grouped closely, and it is likely that these are the only true A. cristatum populations included in this study. Hycrest, CD‐II, and …