Bromus pubescens
Bromus polyanthus
Canada brome, hairy wood brome, hairy woodland brome
Colorado brome, great-basin brome
65-120(150) cm, erect;
nodes (3)5-7(9), usually pubescent, sometimes glabrous;
internodes pubescent or glabrous.
60-120 cm tall, to 3 mm thick, erect, glabrous or puberulent.
retrorsely pilose, midrib of the culm leaves not abruptly narrowed just below the collar, collars hairy or glabrous;
auricles absent;
ligules 0.5-2 mm, glabrous, obtuse to truncate, erose;
blades 12-32 cm long, 6-15(19) mm wide, flat, 1 or both surfaces glabrous or hairy.
usually smooth or scabrous, sometimes hairy except at the throat;
auricles absent;
ligules (1)2-2.5 mm, glabrous, obtuse, erose;
blades 10-31 cm long, 2-9 mm wide, flat, sometimes scabrous, usually glabrous, rarely puberulent to pubescent near the collar.
10-25 cm, open, usually nodding;
branches usually spreading, sometimes ascending, often drooping.
10-20 cm, open to somewhat contracted;
lower branches shorter than 10 cm, (1)2-3 per node, erect, ascending or spreading, with 1-2 spikelets variously distributed.
(13)15-30 mm, elliptic to lanceolate, terete to moderately laterally compressed, with (4)5-10(13) florets.
20-35 mm, shorter than at least some pedicels and branches, elliptic to lanceolate, strongly laterally compressed, not crowded or overlapping, with 6-11 florets.
usually pubescent, rarely glabrous;
lower glumes 4-8 mm, 1-veined;
upper glumes 5-10 mm, 3(5)-veined, not mucronate;
lemmas 8-12 mm, lanceolate, rounded over the midvein, backs and margins usually hairy, sometimes glabrous or scabrous, apices subulate to acute, entire;
awns (3)4-7(8) mm, straight, arising less than 1.5 mm below the lemma apices;
anthers 2-4(5) mm.
smooth or scabrous;
lower glumes (5.5)7-10(11.5) mm, 3-veined;
upper glumes (7.5) 9-11(12.5) mm, 5-7-veined, shorter than the lowest lemma;
lemmas 12-15 mm, lanceolate, laterally compressed, strongly keeled at least distally, glabrous, sometimes scabrous, 7-9-veined, veins usually not raised or riblike, apices entire or with acute teeth, teeth shorter than 1 mm;
awns 4-7 mm;
anthers 1-5 mm.
= 14.
= 56.
Bromus pubescens
Bromus polyanthus
Bromus pubescens grows in shaded, moist, often upland deciduous woods. Its range is centered in the eastern half of the United States, and extends northward to southern Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec, westward in scattered locations to Arizona, and southward to eastern Texas and western Florida.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Bromus polyanthus grows on open slopes and in meadows. It is found primarily in the central Rocky Mountains, but the limits of its range include British Columbia in the north, California in the west, and Arizona, New Mexico, and western Texas in the south. It is not known from Mexico. It intergrades with B. carinatus var. marginatus. Plants with an erect, contracted panicle and awns 4-6 mm long can be called B. polyanthus var. polyanthus; those with with an open, nodding panicle and awns up to 8 mm long can be called B. polyanthus var. paniculatus Shear. Because the variation in both characters is continuous, the varieties are not recognized here.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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