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nodding brome, Porter brome, Porter's brome

weedy brome

Habit Plants perennial; not rhizomatous. Plants annual.
Culms

30-100 cm, erect;

nodes (2)3-4(5), glabrous or pubescent;

internodes mostly glabrous, puberulent near the nodes.

10-40 cm, erect or ascending.

Sheaths

glabrous or pilose, midrib of the culm leaves not abruptly narrowed just below the collar;

auricles absent;

ligules to 2.5 mm, glabrous, truncate or obtuse, erose or lacerate;

blades (3)10-25(35) cm long, 2-5(6) mm wide, flat, not glaucous, both surfaces usually glabrous, sometimes the adaxial surface pilose.

Panicles

7-20 cm, open, nodding, often 1-sided;

branches slender, ascending to spreading, often recurved and flexuous.

6-15 cm long, 1-2 cm wide, racemose, dense, strongly contracted, stiffly erect;

branches shorter than the spikelets, stiff, erect, straight.

Spikelets

12-38 mm, elliptic to lanceolate, terete to moderately laterally compressed, with (3)5-11(13) florets.

17-45 mm long, 4-7 mm wide, narrowly oblong or lanceolate, terete to moderately laterally compressed, usually 1 per node;

florets (4)8-12, bases concealed at maturity;

rachilla internodes concealed at maturity.

Glumes

usually pubescent, rarely glabrous;

lower glumes 5-7(9) mm, usually 3-veined, sometimes 1-veined;

upper glumes 6-10 mm, 3-veined, not mucronate;

lemmas 8-14 mm, elliptic, rounded over the midvein, usually pubescent or pilose, margins often with longer hairs, backs and margins rarely glabrous, apices acute or obtuse to truncate, entire;

awns (1)2-3(3.5) mm, straight, arising less than 1.5 mm below the lemma apices;

anthers (1)2-3 mm.

glabrous or puberulent;

lower glumes 7-9 mm, 3-veined, upper glumes 8-11 mm, 5-7-veined;

lemmas 11-15(17) mm long, 3-5 mm wide, lanceolate, glabrous or pubescent, 9-veined, rounded over the midvein, margins bluntly angled, not inrolled at maturity, apices and teeth acuminate, teeth shorter than 1 mm;

awns 12-20 mm, strongly divaricate at maturity, flattened and often basally twisted, arising 1.5 mm or more below the lemma apices;

anthers 0.75-1.5 mm.

Caryopses

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

Lower

sheaths densely retrorsely villous-pubescent, upper sheaths glabrous;

ligules 0.5-1 mm, glabrous, truncate, dentate or lacerate;

blades 5-20 cm long, 1.5-4 mm wide, pilose, sparingly pubescent, or subglabrous.

2n

= 14.

= 14, 28.

Bromus porteri

Bromus caroli-henrici

Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; ND; NE; NM; NV; SD; TX; UT; WY; MB; SK
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[BONAP county map]
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Discussion

Bromus porteri grows in montane meadows, grassy slopes, mesic steppes, forest edges, and open forest habitats, at 500-3500 m. It is found from British Columbia to Manitoba, and south to California, western Texas, and Mexico. It is closely related to B. anomalus, and has often been included in that species. It differs chiefly in its lack of auricles, and in having culm leaves with midribs that are not narrowed just below the collar.

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

Bromus caroli-henrici is native to Mediterranean Europe. In the Flora region, it grows in open, disturbed areas in Butte and Yolo counties, California. It has been misidentified as B. alopecuros Poir. It differs in having 1, rather than 2-3, spikelets at the rachis nodes, and acuminate, rather than broadly triangular, lemma teeth.

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

Source FNA vol. 24, p. 213. FNA vol. 24, p. 233.
Parent taxa Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Bromeae > Bromus > sect. Bromopsis Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Bromeae > Bromus > sect. Bromus
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. 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. 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. 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. richardsonii, B. riparius, B. rubens, B. scoparius, B. secalinus, B. sitchensis, B. squarrosus, B. sterilis, B. suksdorfii, B. tectorum, B. texensis, B. vulgaris
Synonyms Bromopsis ported B. alopecuros
Name authority (J.M. Coult.) Nash unknown
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