Bromus hordeaceus |
Bromus lepidus |
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brome mou, lesser soft brome, lopgrass, soft brome, soft chess |
scaly brome, slender soft brome |
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Habit | Plants annual or biennial. | Plants annual, rarely biennial. | ||||||||||||
Culms | 2-70 cm, erect or ascending. |
5-60 cm, erect. |
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Sheaths | pilose; ligules 0.5-1 mm, hairy, obtuse; blades 3-13 cm long, 2-4 mm wide. |
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Panicles | 1-13 cm long, 1-4 cm wide, erect, usually ovoid, open, becoming dense, occasionally reduced to 1 or 2 spikelets; branches shorter than the spikelets, ascending to erect, straight or almost so. |
2-10 cm long, 1.5-3 cm wide, erect, contracted or loose; branches shorter than the spikelets, ascending, slightly curved or straight. |
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Spikelets | (11)14-20(23) mm, lanceolate, terete to moderately laterally compressed; florets 5-10, bases concealed at maturity; rachilla internodes concealed at maturity. |
6-15 mm, lanceolate, shiny, terete to moderately laterally compressed; florets 5-12, bases concealed at maturity; rachilla internodes concealed at maturity. |
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Glumes | pilose or glabrous; lower glumes 5-7 mm, 3-5-veined; upper glumes 6.5-8 mm, 5-7-veined; lemmas 6.5-11 mm long, 3-5 mm wide, lanceolate, chartaceous, antrorsely pilose to pubescent, or glabrous proximally or throughout, 7-9-veined, lateral veins prominently ribbed, rounded over the midvein, hyaline margins abruptly or bluntly angled, not inrolled at maturity, apices acute, bifid, teeth shorter than 1 mm; awns 6-8 mm, usually arising less than 1.5 mm below the lemma apices, straight to recurved at maturity; anthers 0.6-1.5 mm. |
glabrous; lower glumes 4-4.6 mm, 3-5-veined; upper glumes 5.2-5.4 mm, 7-veined; lemmas 4.5-6.5 mm long, 1.5-1.7 mm wide, elliptic, glabrous, distinctly 7-veined, rounded over the midvein, margins broadly hyaline, sharply angled, not inrolled at maturity, apices notched, notch at least 0.6 mm deep; awns 2-6 mm, straight, arising from the base of the apical notch but less than 1.5 mm below the lemma apices; anthers 0.5-2 mm. |
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Caryopses | equaling or shorter than the paleas, thin, weakly inrolled to flat. |
longer than the paleas, thin, weakly inrolled or flat. |
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Lower | sheaths densely, often retrorsely, pilose; upper sheaths pubescent or glabrous; ligules 1-1.5 mm, hairy, obtuse, erose; blades 2-19 cm long, 1-4 mm wide, abaxial surfaces glabrous or hairy, adaxial surfaces hairy. |
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2n | = 28. |
= 28. |
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Bromus hordeaceus |
Bromus lepidus |
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Distribution |
AK; AR; AZ; CA; CO; CT; DE; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MO; MT; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; TX; UT; VA; WA; WI; WY; HI; AB; BC; LB; NB; NS; NT; ON; QC; YT; Greenland
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CT; MA; NY |
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Discussion | Bromus hordeaceus is native to southern Europe and northern Africa. It is weedy, growing in disturbed areas such as roadsides, fields, sandy beaches, and waste places, and can be found in many locations in the Flora region, with the exception of the central Canadian provinces and most of the southeastern United States. Its origin is obscure. Ainouche et al. (1999) reviewed various suggestions, and concluded that at least one of its diploid ancestors may have been an extinct or undiscovered species related to B. caroli-henrici, a diploid species. The four subspecies are usually morphologically distinct. Ainouche et al. (1999), however, found no evidence of genetic differentiation among them. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Bromus lepidus grows in fields and waste places. It is native to Europe, and is reported from New York and Massachusetts; it probably also occurs elsewhere in the Flora region. Bromus lepidus often resembles B. hordeaceus subsp. pseudothominei in lemma characteristics (e.g., length, smoothness, and margin angle), so that either may be misinterpreted. Bromus lepidus differs in the wide apical notch of its lemmas, and the length of its caryopses relative to the paleas. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 24, p. 232. | FNA vol. 24, p. 230. | ||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Bromeae > Bromus > sect. Bromus | Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Bromeae > Bromus > sect. Bromus | ||||||||||||
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Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||||||
Synonyms | B. mollis | |||||||||||||
Name authority | L. | Holmb. | ||||||||||||
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