Bromus commutatus

Schrad.
Common names: Meadow brome Hairy chess
Introduced
Synonyms: Bromus secalinus subsp. decipiens
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 24. Treatment on page 230.
Please click on the illustration for a higher resolution version.
Illustrator: Cindy Roché

Copyright: Utah State University

Plants annual. Culms 40-120 cm, erect or ascending. Lower sheaths densely hairy, hairs stiff, often retrorse; upper sheaths pubescent or glabrous; ligules 1-2.5 mm, glabrous or pilose, obtuse, ciliolate; blades 9-18 cm long, 2-4 mm wide, pilose on both surfaces. Panicles 7-16 cm long, 3-6 cm wide, open, erect to ascending; branches sometimes longer than the spikelets, slender, ascending to spreading. Spikelets 14-18(30) mm, oblong-lanceolate, terete to moderately laterally compressed, not purple-tinged; florets 4-9(11), bases concealed or visible at maturity; rachilla internodes 1.5-2 mm, concealed or visible at maturity. Glumes usually glabrous, sometimes scabrous or pubescent; lower glumes 5-7 mm, 5-veined; upper glumes 6-9 mm, 7(9)-veined; lemmas 8-11.5 mm long, 1.7-2.6 mm wide, elliptic to lanceolate, coriaceous, backs usually glabrous, distinctly 7(9)-veined, not ribbed, rounded over the midvein, margins scabrous or pubescent, bluntly angled, inrolled or not at maturity, apices acute to obtuse, bifid, teeth shorter than 1 mm; awns 3-10 mm, straight, arising less than 1.5 mm below the lemma apices, awn of the lowest lemma shorter than the others; anthers 0.7-1.7 mm. Caryopses equaling or shorter than the paleas, weakly to strongly inrolled. 2n = 14, 28, 56.

Discussion

Bromus commutatus grows in fields, waste places, and road verges. It is native to Europe and the Baltic region; in the Flora region, it is found mainly in the United States and southern Canada. Hildemar Scholz (pers. comm.) recognizes three subspecies of B. commutatus in Europe; no attempt has been made to determine which subspecies are present in the Flora region.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.
... more about "Bromus commutatus"
Leon E. Pavlickf +
Schrad. +
Meadow brome +  and Hairy chess +
Conn. +, Mass. +, N.H. +, N.J. +, N.Y. +, Calif. +, Del. +, N.C. +, Va. +, W.Va. +, Vt. +, D.C +, Wis. +, Colo. +, Kans. +, Nebr. +, Okla. +, Idaho +, Mont. +, Oreg. +, Wash. +, Wyo. +, Pacific Islands (Hawaii) +, N.Mex. +, Utah +, Maine +, R.I. +, Fla. +, Ala. +, Ark. +, Ariz. +, Ga. +, Iowa +, Ill. +, Ind. +, Ky. +, La. +, Md. +, Mich. +, Minn. +, Mo. +, Miss. +, N.Dak. +, Nev. +, Ohio +, Pa. +, S.Dak. +, Tenn. +, Tex. +, Alaska +, S.C. +, Alta. +, B.C. +, Greenland +, Man. +, N.B. +, Nfld. and Labr. +, N.S. +, N.W.T. +, Nunavut +, Ont. +, P.E.I. +, Que. +, Sask. +  and Yukon +
Introduced +
Bromus secalinus subsp. decipiens +
Bromus commutatus +
Bromus sect. Bromus +
species +