Bromus tectorum
Bromus pubescens
cheat brome, cheat grass, downy brome, downy chess, drooping brome
Canada brome, hairy wood brome, hairy woodland brome
5-90 cm, erect, slender, puberulent below the panicle.
65-120(150) cm, erect;
nodes (3)5-7(9), usually pubescent, sometimes glabrous;
internodes pubescent or glabrous.
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.
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.
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, usually nodding;
branches usually spreading, sometimes ascending, often drooping.
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.
(13)15-30 mm, elliptic to lanceolate, terete to moderately laterally compressed, with (4)5-10(13) florets.
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.
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.
= 14.
= 14.
Bromus tectorum
Bromus pubescens
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 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.)
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