Bromus tectorum |
Bromus berteroanus |
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cheat brome, cheat grass, downy brome, downy chess, drooping brome |
Chilean chess |
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Habit | Plants annual. | Plants annual; often tufted. |
Culms | 5-90 cm, erect, slender, puberulent below the panicle. |
30-60 cm, slender. |
Sheaths | usually densely and softly retrorsely pubescent to pilose, upper sheaths sometimes glabrous; auricles absent; ligules 2-3 mm, glabrous, obtuse, lacerate; blades to 16 cm long, 1-6 mm wide, both surfaces softly hairy. |
pilose-pubescent to nearly glabrous; blades 7-28 cm long, 2-9 mm wide, pilose or glabrous. |
Panicles | 5-20 cm long, 3-8 cm wide, open, lax, drooping distally, usually 1-sided; branches 1-4 cm, drooping, usually 1-sided and longer than the spikelets, usually at least 1 branch with 4-8 spikelets. |
10-20 cm long, 3-9 cm wide, erect, dense; branches appressed to spreading, sometimes flexuous. |
Spikelets | 10-20 mm, usually shorter than the panicle branches, sides parallel or diverging distally, moderately laterally compressed, often purplish-tinged, not densely crowded, with 4-8 florets. |
15-20 mm, elliptic to lanceolate, more or less terete, with 3-9 florets. |
Glumes | villous, pubescent, or glabrous, margins hyaline; lower glumes 4-9 mm, 1-veined; upper glumes 7-13 mm, 3-5-veined; lemmas 9-12 mm, lanceolate, glabrous or pubescent to pilose, 5-7-veined, rounded over the midvein, margins hyaline, often with some hairs longer than those on the backs, apices acuminate, hyaline, bifid, teeth 0.8-2(3) mm; awns 10-18 mm, straight, arising 1.5 mm or more below the lemma apices; anthers 0.5-1 mm. |
glabrous, acuminate; lower glumes 8-10 mm, 1-veined; upper glumes 12-16 mm, 3(5)-veined; lemmas 11-14 mm, lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, sparsely pubescent, 5-veined, rounded over the midvein, apices acuminate, bifid, teeth 2-3 mm, usually aristate, sometimes acuminate; awns 13-20 mm, geniculate, strongly to moderately twisted in the basal portion, arising 1.5 mm or more below the lemma apices; anthers 2-2.5 mm. |
2n | = 14. |
= unknown. |
Bromus tectorum |
Bromus berteroanus |
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Distribution |
AK; AL; AR; AZ; CA; CO; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; MT; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; TX; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; HI; AB; BC; MB; NB; NS; NT; ON; QC; SK; YT; Greenland
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AZ; CA; NV; OR; UT
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Discussion | Bromus tectorum is a European species that is well established in the Flora region and other parts of the world. It grows in disturbed sites, such as overgrazed rangelands, fields, sand dunes, road verges, and waste places. In the southwestern United States, Bromus tectorum is considered a good source of spring feed for cattle, at least until the awns mature. It is highly competitive and dominates rapidly after fire, especially in sagebrush areas. The resulting dense, fine fuels permanently shorten the fire-return interval, further hindering reestablishment of native species. It now dominates large areas of the sagebrush ecosystem of the western Flora region. Specimens with glabrous spikelets have been called Bromus tectorum f. nudus (Klett & Richt.) H. St. John. They occur throughout the range of the species, and are not known to have any other distinguishing characteristics. For this reason, they are not given formal recognition in this treatment. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Bromus berteroanus is from Chile, and can now be found in dry areas in western North America, including British Columbia, Montana, California, Nevada, Arizona, southwestern Utah, and Baja California, Mexico. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 24, p. 226. | FNA vol. 24, p. 224. |
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Bromeae > Bromus > sect. Genea | Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Bromeae > Bromus > sect. Neobromus |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | B. tectorum var. nudus, B. tectorum var. glabratus, Anisantha tectorum | B. trinii var. excelsus, B. trinii |
Name authority | L. | Colla |
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