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brome mou, lesser soft brome, lopgrass, soft brome, soft chess

fringe brome, Richardson's brome

Habit Plants annual or biennial. Plants perennial; not rhizomatous.
Culms

2-70 cm, erect or ascending.

50-110(145) cm, erect to spreading;

nodes (3)4-5(6), usually glabrous, sometimes pubescent;

internodes usually glabrous.

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.

10-20(25) cm, open, nodding;

branches ascending to spreading or drooping, filiform.

Spikelets

(11)14-20(23) mm, lanceolate, terete to moderately laterally compressed;

florets 5-10, bases concealed at maturity;

rachilla internodes concealed at maturity.

15-25(40) mm, elliptic to lanceolate, terete to moderately laterally compressed, with (4)6-10(15) florets.

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.

usually glabrous, sometimes pubescent;

lower glumes 7.5-12.5 mm, 1(3)-veined;

upper glumes 8.9-11.3 mm, 3-veined, often mucronate;

lemmas 9-14(16) mm, elliptic, rounded over the midvein, margins more or less densely pilose on the lower 1/2 or 3/4, lower lemmas in a spikelet glabrous across the backs, uppermost lemmas with appressed hairs on the backs, apices obtuse, entire;

awns (2)3-5 mm, straight, arising less than 1.5 mm below the lemma apices;

anthers 1.6-2.7 mm.

Caryopses

equaling or shorter than the paleas, thin, weakly inrolled to flat.

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.

Basal

sheaths often retrorsely pilose;

culm sheaths glabrous, often tufted-pilose near the auricle position, midrib of the culm leaves not abruptly narrowed just below the collar;

auricles absent;

ligules 0.4-2 mm, glabrous, rounded, erose, ciliolate;

blades 10-35 cm long, 3-12 mm wide, flat, glabrous.

2n

= 28.

= 28.

Bromus hordeaceus

Bromus richardsonii

Distribution
from FNA
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
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from USDA
[BONAP county map]
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 richardsonii grows in meadows and open woods in the upper montane and subalpine zones, at 2000-4000 m in the southern Rocky Mountains, and at lower elevations northwards. Its range extends from southern Alaska to southern California and northern Baja California, Mexico; it is found as far east as Saskatchewan, South Dakota, and western Texas. Specimens with pubescent nodes and glumes are apparently confined to the southwestern United States.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Key
1. Lemmas (7)8-11 mm long, usually pubescent or pilose.
→ 2
2. Awns more than 0.1 mm wide at the base, straight, erect; culms (3)10-70 cm long
subsp. hordeaceus
2. Awns less than 0.1 mm wide at the base, often divaricate or recurved at maturity; culms 15-25(60) cm long
subsp. molliformis
1. Lemmas 6.5-8(9) mm long, glabrous or pubescent.
→ 3
3. Culms (3)10-70 cm long; panicles up to 10 cm long, usually with more than 1 spikelet; lemmas usually glabrous; caryopses usually as long as the paleas; habitat various
subsp. pseudothomineii
3. Culms 2-16 cm long; panicles 1-3 cm long, often reduced to 1 spikelet; lemmas pubescent or glabrous; caryopses shorter than the paleas; plants of maritime or lacustrine sands
subsp. thotninei
Source FNA vol. 24, p. 232. FNA vol. 24, p. 222.
Parent taxa Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Bromeae > Bromus > sect. Bromus Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Bromeae > Bromus > sect. Bromopsis
Sibling taxa
B. aleutensis, B. anomalus, B. arenarius, B. arizonicus, B. arvensis, B. berteroanus, B. briziformis, B. carinatus, B. caroli-henrici, B. catharticus, B. ciliatus, B. commutatus, B. danthoniae, B. diandrus, B. erectus, B. frondosus, B. grandis, B. hallii, B. inermis, B. japonicus, B. kalmii, B. laevipes, B. lanatipes, B. lanceolatus, B. latiglumis, B. lepidus, B. madritensis, B. maritimus, B. mucroglumis, B. nottowayanus, B. orcuttianus, B. pacificus, B. polyanthus, B. porteri, B. pseudolaevipes, B. pubescens, B. pumpellianus, B. racemosus, B. ramosus, B. richardsonii, B. riparius, B. rubens, B. scoparius, B. secalinus, B. sitchensis, B. squarrosus, B. sterilis, B. suksdorfii, B. tectorum, B. texensis, B. vulgaris
B. aleutensis, B. anomalus, B. arenarius, B. arizonicus, B. arvensis, B. berteroanus, B. briziformis, B. carinatus, B. caroli-henrici, B. catharticus, B. ciliatus, B. commutatus, B. danthoniae, B. diandrus, B. erectus, B. frondosus, B. grandis, B. hallii, B. hordeaceus, B. inermis, B. japonicus, B. kalmii, B. laevipes, B. lanatipes, B. lanceolatus, B. latiglumis, B. lepidus, B. madritensis, B. maritimus, B. mucroglumis, B. nottowayanus, B. orcuttianus, B. pacificus, B. polyanthus, B. porteri, B. pseudolaevipes, B. pubescens, B. pumpellianus, B. racemosus, B. ramosus, B. riparius, B. rubens, B. scoparius, B. secalinus, B. sitchensis, B. squarrosus, B. sterilis, B. suksdorfii, B. tectorum, B. texensis, B. vulgaris
Subordinate taxa
B. hordeaceus subsp. hordeaceus, B. hordeaceus subsp. molliformis, B. hordeaceus subsp. pseudothomineii, B. hordeaceus subsp. thotninei
Synonyms B. mollis Bromposis richardsonii, Bromopsis canadensis subsp. ricbardsonii
Name authority L. Link
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