Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
Aquatic and Wetland Vascular Plants of the Northern Great Plains
63. Poaceae, the Grass Family
5. Bromus L. -- Brome grass
1. Bromus ciliatus L. -- Fringed brome
Nonrhizomatous perennial 5-12 dm tall; culms few together or single,
often pubescent at the nodes. Leaf blades flat, 3.5-10(12) mm wide, glabrous
or pilose mainly on the upper surface; sheaths glabrous to pilose; ligule
membranous, very short to 1.5 mm long, erose. Inflorescence a loose,
open panicle 7-20(33) cm long, the branches usually drooping; spikelets
rather large, 4- to 10-flowered, 14-25(35) mm long, 4-10 mm wide; glumes
glabrous to scabrous on the nerves, the first glume 4-9.5 mm long, 1-nerved
or some rarely 3-nerved, acute, the second glume 6-11(14) mm long, 3-nerved,
acute or with a short-awned tip; lemmas mostly 8-15 mm long, reduced
upward, 5- to 7-nerved, usually prominently villous along the margins mainly
in the lower 1/2 to 3/4, glabrous on the back or short-pubescent toward the
base, awned from between the teeth of a minutely bifid apex, the awn 1-6 mm
long; palea about equaling the body of the lemma; anthers highly
variable in size, 0.7-2(4.6) mm long. Grain elongate, about equaling
the palea, retained between the lemma and palea. Jul--Aug(Sep). Wet to moist
ground of fresh springs, fens, stream banks and thickets, also in moist woods;
occasional; (Newf. to WA, s to NJ, TN, IA, TX and CA).
Of the several native species of brome in the region, B. ciliatus
is the only one found in wet ground with regularity. Although better known
from moist woods in other parts of its range, in our area it demonstrates
a clear preference for open, wet to moist places where surface water is fresh.
Smooth brome, Bromus inermis Leyss., is naturalized throughout our
range. Because of its abundance and ubiquity, it is common to find smooth
brome in moist meadows and other habitats associated with prairie wetlands.
The rhizomatous habit and awnless or very short-awned, glabrous to scabrous
lemmas make smooth brome distinctive among our bromes.
The weedy nature of the introduced annual bromes accounts for their frequent
occurrence in previously flooded areas, e.g. dried shores, floodplains, etc.
The most commonly encountered of these are Japanese brome, Bromus japonicus
Thunb. ex Murr. and downy brome, B. tectorum L. Both are much better
known as upland weeds.
Previous Section -- Beckmannia syzigachne (Steud.)
Fern. -- Western sloughgrass
Return to Family -- Poaceae - The Grass
Next Section -- Calamagrostis canadensis (Michx.)
Beauv. -- Bluejoint reedgrass