Bromus diandrus
Bromus carinatus
great brome, ripgut brome, ripgut grass
California brome, mountain brome
20-90 cm, erect or decumbent, puberulent below the panicle.
45-120(180) cm tall, usually less than 3 mm thick, erect.
softly pilose, hairs often retrorse or spreading;
auricles absent;
ligules 2-3 mm, glabrous, obtuse, lacerate or erose;
blades 3.5-27 cm long, 1-9 mm wide, both surfaces pilose.
mostly glabrous or retrorsely soft pilose, throats usually hairy;
auricles sometimes present on the lower leaves;
ligules 1-3.5(4) mm, glabrous or sparsely hairy, acute to obtuse, lacerate or erose;
blades 8-30 cm long, 1-12 mm wide, flat or becoming involute, glabrous or sparsely pilose to pubescent on 1 or both surfaces.
13-25 cm long, 2-12 cm wide, erect to spreading;
branches 1-7 cm, stiffly erect to ascending or spreading, with 1 or 2 spikelets.
5-40 cm, lax, open or erect;
lower branches usually shorter than 10 cm, 1-4 per node, ascending to strongly divergent or reflexed, with 1-4 spikelets variously distributed.
25-70 mm, sides parallel or diverging distally, moderately laterally compressed, with 4-11 florets.
20-40 mm, shorter than at least some pedicels and branches, elliptic to lanceolate, strongly laterally compressed, not crowded or overlapping, sometimes purplish, with 4-11 florets.
smooth or scabrous, margins hyaline;
lower glumes 15-25 mm, 1-3-veined;
upper glumes 20-35 mm, 3-5-veined;
lemmas 20-35 mm, linear-lanceolate, scabrous, 7-veined, rounded over the midvein, margins hyaline, apices bifid, acuminate, teeth 3-5 mm;
awns 30-65 mm, straight, arising 1.5 mm or more below the lemma apices;
anthers 0.5-1 mm.
glabrous or pubescent;
lower glumes 7-11 mm, 3-7(9)-veined;
upper glumes 9-13 mm, shorter than the lowest lemma, 5-9(11)-veined;
lemmas 10-16(17) mm, lanceolate, laterally compressed, strongly keeled distally, usually more or less uniformly pubescent or pubescent on the margins only, sometimes glabrous or scabrous, 7-9-veined, veins usually not raised or riblike, apices entire or with acute teeth shorter than 1 mm;
awns 4-17 mm, sometimes slightly geniculate;
anthers 1-6 mm.
= 42, 56.
= 28, 42, 56.
Bromus diandrus
Bromus carinatus
Bromus diandrus is native to southern and western Europe. It is now established in North America, where it grows in disturbed ground, waste places, fields, sand dunes, and limestone areas. It occurs from southwestern British Columbia to Baja California, Mexico, and eastward to Montana, Colorado, Texas, and scattered locations in the eastern United States. The common name 'ripgut grass' indicates the effect it has on animals if they consume the sharp, long-awned florets of this species.
Bromus diandrus, as treated here, includes B. rigidus Roth. Sales (1993) reduced these two taxa to varietal rank, pointing out that the differences between them in panicle morphology and callus and scar shape are subtle enough that identification of many specimens beyond B. diandrus sensu lato is often impossible.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Bromus carinatus is native from British Columbia to Saskatchewan and south to Mexico. It has been introduced to various more eastern locations and to the southern Yukon Territory. The two varieties recognized here are sometimes recognized as species.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Most awns 8-17 mm long | var. carinatus |
1. Most awns 4-7 mm long | var. marginatus |
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