Burke: Bromus tectorum vs. Bromus vulgaris

	Bromus tectorum	Bromus vulgaris
	cheat grass	Columbian brome
Habit		Non-rhizomatous perennial, the culms 6-10 dm. tall, usually pubescent at the nodes.
Leaves		Sheaths closed, often with a few long hairs at the throat; ligules 2-3 mm. long; blades lax, flat, 5-10 mm. broad.
Flowers		Inflorescence an open panicle 10-18 cm. long, the slender branches drooping; spikelets 5- to 7-flowered, 20-28 mm. long; first glume 5-8 mm. long, 1-nerved, the second 7-10 mm. long, 3-nerved; lemmas pubescent along the marginal nerves but glabrous toward the tip, 8-13 mm. long, with awns 3-8 mm. long from the bifid apex; anthers exerted.

	Bromus tectorum	Bromus vulgaris
Flowering time	March-June	June-August
Habitat	Sagebrush desert, grasslands, prairies, meadows, balds, roadsides, wastelots, and other distrubed open areas from low to middle elevations.	Shaded to open woods or moist to dry banks, from near sea level to mountain meadows and dry, rocky slopes at 6000' elevation.
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 on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia south along the coast to northern California, east to Alberta, Montana and Wyoming. [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]
Origin	Introduced from Europe	Native
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. sterilis, B. suksdorfii, B. tectorum
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 vulgaris

cheat grass

Columbian brome

Habit

Non-rhizomatous perennial, the culms 6-10 dm. tall, usually pubescent at the nodes.

Leaves

Sheaths closed, often with a few long hairs at the throat;

ligules 2-3 mm. long;

blades lax, flat, 5-10 mm. broad.

Flowers

Inflorescence an open panicle 10-18 cm. long, the slender branches drooping;

spikelets 5- to 7-flowered, 20-28 mm. long; first glume 5-8 mm. long, 1-nerved, the second 7-10 mm. long, 3-nerved;

lemmas pubescent along the marginal nerves but glabrous toward the tip, 8-13 mm. long, with awns 3-8 mm. long from the bifid apex;

anthers exerted.

Bromus tectorum

Bromus vulgaris

Flowering time

March-June

June-August

Habitat

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

Shaded to open woods or moist to dry banks, from near sea level to mountain meadows and dry, rocky slopes at 6000' elevation.

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 on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia south along the coast to northern California, east to Alberta, Montana and Wyoming.

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]

Origin

Introduced from Europe

Native

Conservation status

Not of concern

Sibling taxa