Burke: Bromus tectorum vs. Bromus sterilis

	Bromus tectorum	Bromus sterilis
	cheat grass	poverty brome
Habit		Annual, the culm 5-10 dm. tall, usually soft-pubescent throughout.
Leaves		Sheaths closed; ligules 2-3 mm. long, lacerate; blades flat, 2-3 mm. broad.
Flowers		Inflorescence a narrow panicle 8-12 cm. long, the branches shorter than the spikelets, strictly erect; spikelets 5- to 7-flowered, 2-2.5 mm. long; first glume 1-nerved, 7-10 mm. long, the second 3-nerved, 2-3 mm. longer; lemmas about 13 mm. long, obtuse, only slightly bifid, the awn up to 30 mm. long; anthers exerted; ovary strongly hairy on the upper half.

	Bromus tectorum	Bromus sterilis
Flowering time	March-June	May-July
Habitat	Sagebrush desert, grasslands, prairies, meadows, balds, roadsides, wastelots, and other distrubed open areas from low to middle elevations.	Fields, grassy balds, roadside, wastelots, and other disturbed places.
Distribution	Occurring on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; Alaska to Baja California, Mexico, east across North America to the Atlantic Coast. [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]	Occurring chiefly west of the Cascades crest in Washington; Southern British Columbia to California, east to Idaho, the southern Rocky Mountains, and Texas; also in eastern North America. [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]
Origin	Introduced from Europe	Introduced from Europe
Conservation status	Not of concern	Not of concern
Sibling taxa	B. arenarius, B. briziformis, B. ciliatus, B. commutatus, B. diandrus, B. erectus, B. hordeaceus, B. inermis, B. japonicus, B. madritensis, B. orcuttianus, B. pacificus, B. pumpellianus, B. racemosus, B. rubens, B. secalinus, B. sitchensis, B. squarrosus, B. sterilis, B. suksdorfii, B. vulgaris	B. arenarius, B. briziformis, B. ciliatus, B. commutatus, B. diandrus, B. erectus, B. hordeaceus, B. inermis, B. japonicus, B. madritensis, B. orcuttianus, B. pacificus, B. pumpellianus, B. racemosus, B. rubens, B. secalinus, B. sitchensis, B. squarrosus, B. suksdorfii, B. tectorum, B. vulgaris
Web links	Local floras: BC, CA, OR, WA Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos, Flora NW, PNW Herbaria WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search	Local floras: BC, CA, OR, WA Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos, Flora NW, PNW Herbaria WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search

Bromus tectorum

Bromus sterilis

cheat grass

poverty brome

Habit

Annual, the culm 5-10 dm. tall, usually soft-pubescent throughout.

Leaves

Sheaths closed;

ligules 2-3 mm. long, lacerate;

blades flat, 2-3 mm. broad.

Flowers

Inflorescence a narrow panicle 8-12 cm. long, the branches shorter than the spikelets, strictly erect;

spikelets 5- to 7-flowered, 2-2.5 mm. long; first glume 1-nerved, 7-10 mm. long, the second 3-nerved, 2-3 mm. longer;

lemmas about 13 mm. long, obtuse, only slightly bifid, the awn up to 30 mm. long;

anthers exerted;

ovary strongly hairy on the upper half.

Bromus tectorum

Bromus sterilis

Flowering time

March-June

May-July

Habitat

Sagebrush desert, grasslands, prairies, meadows, balds, roadsides, wastelots, and other distrubed open areas from low to middle elevations.

Fields, grassy balds, roadside, wastelots, and other disturbed places.

Distribution

Occurring on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; Alaska to Baja California, Mexico, east across North America to the Atlantic Coast.

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]

Occurring chiefly west of the Cascades crest in Washington; Southern British Columbia to California, east to Idaho, the southern Rocky Mountains, and Texas; also in eastern North America.

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]

Origin

Introduced from Europe

Conservation status

Not of concern

Sibling taxa