Bromus tectorum |
Bromus pacificus |
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cheat brome, cheat grass, downy brome, downy chess, drooping brome |
Pacific brome |
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Habit | Plants annual. | Plants perennial; not rhizomatous. |
Culms | 5-90 cm, erect, slender, puberulent below the panicle. |
60-170 cm, erect; nodes (5)6-8, pubescent; internodes usually glabrous, sometimes pubescent near the nodes. |
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, midrib of the culm leaves not abruptly narrowed just below the collar; auricles absent; ligules 2-4 mm, glabrous, truncate, erose or lacerate; blades 20-35(37) mm long, 6-16 mm wide, flat, abaxial surfaces glabrous, adaxial surfaces pilose. |
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. |
10-25 cm, open, nodding; branches ascending, spreading, or drooping. |
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. |
20-30 mm, elliptic to lanceolate, terete to moderately laterally compressed, with (4)6-10 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. |
pubescent; lower glumes 6-8.5 mm, 1(3)-veined; upper glumes 8-11.5 mm, 3-veined, not mucronate; lemmas 10-12 mm, lanceolate, rounded over the midvein, backs pubescent, margins more densely so, apices acute, entire; awns 3.5-7 mm, straight, arising less than 1.5 mm below the lemma apices; anthers 2-4 mm. |
2n | = 14. |
= 28. |
Bromus tectorum |
Bromus pacificus |
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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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AK; OR; WA; BC
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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 pacificus grows in moist thickets, openings, and ravines along the Pacific coast from southeastern Alaska to northern California, with a few occurrences further inland. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 24, p. 226. | FNA vol. 24, p. 218. |
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Bromeae > Bromus > sect. Genea | Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Bromeae > Bromus > sect. Bromopsis |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | B. tectorum var. nudus, B. tectorum var. glabratus, Anisantha tectorum | Bromopsis pacifica |
Name authority | L. | Shear |
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