Bromus hordeaceus |
Bromus catharticus |
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soft chess |
rescue grass |
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Habit | Plants annual, occasionally biennial, 2–70 cm tall. | |
Leaves | lower sheaths densely pilose; upper sheaths pubescent or glabrous; blades 2–19 cm × 1–4 mm; lower surfaces glabrous or pubescent; upper surfaces pubescent. |
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Inflorescences | 1–13 × 1–4 cm; erect, usually ovoid; open at anthesis, becoming contracted and dense, occasionally reduced to 1 or 2 spikelets; branches usually shorter than the spikelets, ascending to erect; straight or nearly straight. |
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Spikelets | (11)14–20(23)mm, lanceolate; terete to moderately laterally compressed, 5–10 florets; floret bases usually concealed at maturity; rachilla internodes concealed at maturity. |
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Glumes | pilose to glabrous; lower glumes 5–7 mm, 3–5-veined; upper glumes 6.5–8 mm, 5–7-veined. |
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Caryopses | equal to or shorter than paleas; thin, weakly inrolled to flat. |
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Lemmas | 6.5–11 × 3–5 mm, lanceolate, chartaceous, antrorsely pilose to pubescent, occasionally glabrous near the base or throughout, 7–9-veined; hyaline margins abruptly or bluntly angled, not inrolled at maturity; lateral veins prominent, thickened and raised; tips rounded to acute; bifid; teeth shorter than 1 mm; lemma awns 6–8 mm, usually arising less than 1.5 mm below the lemma tips; straight to recurved at maturity. |
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Anthers | 0.6–1.5(2)mm. |
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2n | =28. |
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Bromus hordeaceus |
Bromus catharticus |
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Distribution | ||
Discussion | Disturbed areas, degraded grasslands. 0–1900m. All ecoregions except BR. CA, ID, NV, WA; north to AK, south to Mexico, east to Newfoundland and SC; North Africa, southern Europe; scattered elsewhere worldwide. Exotic. Bromus hordeaceus has been divided into subspecies, two of which may occur in Oregon (B. h. ssp. hordeaceus and B. h. ssp. pseudothominei). Most Oregon specimens, however, cannot be identified confidently to either subspecies. |
[Species with one variety or subspecies in Oregon.] |
Source | Flora of Oregon, volume 1, page 370 Barbara Wilson, Richard Brainerd, Nick Otting |
Flora of Oregon, volume 1 |
Sibling taxa | ||
Subordinate taxa | ||
Synonyms | Bromus hordeaceus ssp. hordeaceus, Bromus hordeaceus ssp. molliformis, Bromus hordeaceus ssp. pseudothominei, Bromus hordeaceus ssp. thominei, Bromus mollis | Bromus unioloides |
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