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Bromus tectorum

(Cheat Grass Bromus Tectorum)

Interesting Facts

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Common Names

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Click on the language to view common names.

Common Names in Chinese:

Han Que Mai

Common Names in English:

Bronco Grass, Broncograss, Cheat Grass, Cheat Grass Bromus Tectorum, Cheatgrass, Cheatgrass Brome, Downy Brome, Downy Broome, Downy Chess, Drooping Brome, Early Chess, June Grass, Military Chess, Military Grass, Mormon Oats, Selnder Chess, Thatch Bromegrass, Wild Oats

Common Names in French:

Brome Des Toits

Common Names in German:

Dach-Trespe, Dachtrespe

Common Names in Italian:

Forasacco Dei Tetti

Common Names in Nepalese:

Juke

Common Names in Portuguese:

Bromo-Felpudo, Bromo-Pendente, Capim-Cevadinha

Common Names in Spanish:

Bromo Velloso, Espiguilla Colgante

Description

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Family Poaceae

Annual or perennial herbs, or tall woody bamboos . Flowering stems (culms ) jointed , internodes hollow or solid; branches arising singly from nodes and subtended by a leaf sheath and 2-keeled prophyll, often fascicled in bamboos. Leaves arranged alternately in 2 ranks , differentiated into sheath, blade , and an adaxial erect appendage at sheath/blade junction (ligule) ; leaf sheath surrounding and supporting culm-internode, split to base or infrequently tubular with partially or completely fused margins , modified with reduced blade in bamboos (culm sheaths) ; leaf blades divergent, usually long, narrow and flat, but varying from inrolled and filiform to ovate , veins parallel, sometimes with cross-connecting veinlets (especially in bamboos) ; ligule membranous or a line of hairs . Inflorescence terminal or axillary , an open, contracted , or spikelike panicle, or composed of lax to spikelike racemes arranged along an elongate central axis, or digitate, paired , or occasionally solitary; axillary inflorescences often many, subtended by spatheoles (specialized bladeless leaf sheaths) and gathered into a leafy compound panicle; spikelets often aggregated into complex clusters in bamboos. Spikelets composed of distichous bracts arranged along a slender axis (rachilla) ; typically 2 lowest bracts (glumes ) empty, subtending 1 to many florets ; glumes often poorly differentiated from accompanying bracts in bamboos. Florets composed of 2 opposing bracts enclosing a single small flower, outer bract (lemma) clasping the more delicate, usually 2-keeled inner bract (palea) ; base of floret often with thickened prolongation articulated with rachilla (callus) ; lemma often with apical or dorsal bristle (awn ), glumes also sometimes awned . Flowers bisexual or unisexual ; lodicules (small scales representing perianth) 2, rarely 3 or absent, 3 to many in bamboos, hyaline or fleshy ; stamens 3 rarely 1, 2, 6, or more in some bamboos, hypogynous, filaments capillary , anthers versatile; ovary 1-celled, styles (1 or) 2(rarely 3), free or united at base, topped by feathery stigmas, exserted from sides or apex of floret. Fruit normally a dry indehiscent caryopsis with thin pericarp firmly adherent to seed, pericarp rarely free, fleshy in some bamboos; embryo small or large; hilum punctate to linear .

About 700 genera and 11,000 species: widely distributed in all regions of the world.[1]

Genus Bromus

Annuals or perennials . Culms erect , tufted or with rhizomes. Leaf sheaths closed ; leaf blades linear , usually flat; ligules membranous. Panicles spreading or contracted , branches scabrid or pubescent , elongated or arched. Spikelets large, with 3 to many florets , upper florets often sterile ; rachilla disarticulating above glumes and between florets, scabrid or shortly hairy ; glumes unequal or subequal , shorter than spikelet, lanceolate or nearly ovate , (1-) 5-7-veined, apex acute or long acuminate or aristiform ; floret callus glabrous or both sides thinly hairy; lemmas rounded on back or compressed to keel, 5-9(-11) -veined, herbaceous or nearly leathery, margins often membranous, apex entire or 2-toothed; awn terminal or arising from lemma between teeth slightly under apex, rarely awnless or 3-awned; palea narrow, usually shorter than lemma, keels ciliate or scabrid. Lodicules 2. Stamens 3. Ovary apex with appendage ; styles 2, arising from lower front of appendage. Caryopsis oblong , apex hairy, adaxial surface sulcate . Chromosomes large, x = 7, 2n = 14, 28, 42, 56, 70.

About 150 species: temperate regions , mainly in the N hemisphere, also on mountains in the tropics; 55 species (eight endemic, at least three introduced ) in China.[2]

Physical Description

Species Bromus tectorum

Annual . Culms erect , 20-60 cm tall, 3- or 4-noded. Leaf sheaths pubescent ; leaf blades 5-20 cm, 2-4 mm wide, pubescent; ligule 1.5-2 mm. Panicle spreading , 8-15 cm, secund ; branches 3-5 at lower nodes, slender, mostly curved , scabrid , pubescent, each bearing 1-8 slightly nodding spikelets . Spikelets 10-35(-50) mm; florets 4-8; rachilla internodes 2-3 mm; glumes narrowly lanceolate, margins membranous, lower glume 8-15 mm, 1-3-veined, upper glume 11-17 mm, 3-7-veined, apex acute, obtuse , or shortly aristiform ; lemmas 9-22 mm, 1-1.5 mm wide in side view , 5-7-veined, scabrid or pubescent, margins thinly membranous, shiny, apex acuminate, acute, or obtuse, 2-toothed, awned from sinus , awn 12-25(-40) mm, slender, straight; palea shorter than or subequal to lemma, keels ciliate . Stamens 3; anthers 0.5-2 mm. Fl. and fr. May-Sep. [source]

Habit: Graminoid

Flowers: Bloom Period: Grassy places, dry slopes , river beaches, dry sandy places, wastelands, roadsides; 100-3400(-4200) m [3].

Size/Age/Growth

Size: 18-24" tall.

Habitat

Grassy places, dry slopes , river beaches, dry sandy places, wastelands, roadsides; 100-3400(-4200) m [3].

Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 3,632 meters (0 to 11,916 feet).[4]

Biology

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Reproduction

Duration: Annual

Growth

Soil: Minimum pH: 6.1 • Maximum pH: 6.5

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Sun to Partial Shade.

Temperature: Cold Hardiness: Not Applicable (map)

Taxonomy

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Unambiguous Synonyms

  1. Anisantha tectorum (L.) Nevski
  2. Bromus tectorum var. glabratus Spenner
  3. Bromus tectorum var. hirsutus Regel
  4. Bromus tectorum var. nudus Klett & Richter

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name . Latest taxonomic scrutiny: 15-Mar-2000

Place of publication : Sp. pl. 1:77. 1753

Name verified on 07-Apr-2003 by ARS Systematic Botanists. Last updated: 20-Nov-2007

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Bromus

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 688 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus. Here are just 100 of them:

B. abolinii · B. abortiflorus · B. adjaricus · B. adoensis · B. aegyptiacus · B. affinis · B. agrestis · B. alaicus · B. albidus · B. aleutensis (Aleutian Brome) · B. alopecuroides · B. alopecuros (Roadside Brome) · B. alopecuros caroli-henrici (Weedy Brome) · B. alopecuros subsp. biaristulatus · B. alopecurus · B. alpestris · B. altissimus · B. ambigens · B. ambiguus · B. anatolicus · B. andinus · B. andringitrensis · B. anduennensis · B. angrenicus · B. angustatus · B. angustifolius · B. angustissimus · B. anomalus (Nodding Bromegrass) · B. anomolus · B. antarcticus · B. aquaticus · B. araucanus · B. arcticus · B. arcticus subsp. ornans · B. arduennensis · B. arenaceus · B. arenarius (Australian Brome) · B. arenarius var. macrostachya · B. argypheus · B. aristatus · B. arizonicus (Arizona Brome) · B. armenus · B. arrhenatheroides · B. arundinaceus · B. arvensis (Field Bromegrass) · B. asper · B. asperipes · B. asperrimus · B. atlanticus · B. attenuatus · B. atticus · B. auleticus · B. auriculatus · B. australis · B. avenaceus · B. avenaeformis · B. avenoides · B. badensis · B. balsiensis · B. barbatoides · B. barbatus · B. barcensis · B. barobalianus · B. benekeni · B. benekenii · B. benekkenii (Brome) · B. benekkenii 'Denver Botanic Garden' · B. berterianus (Bromus Trinii E. Desv.) · B. berteroanus · B. berteroanus var. berteroanus · B. bertolae · B. bicuspis · B. bidentatus · B. biebersteinii (Bieberstein Brome) · B. bifidus · B. bikfayensis · B. billotii · B. bohemicus · B. bolivianus · B. bonariensis · B. bonassorum · B. boraei · B. borianus · B. brachyantheca · B. brachyanthera · B. brachyanthera brachyanthera · B. brachyanthera var. brachyanthera · B. brachyphyllus · B. brachystachys · B. brauni · B. breviaristatus · B. brevis · B. brevisetus · B. britannicus · B. brizaeformis · B. brizaformis · B. briziformis (Rattlesnake Brome Grass) · B. brizioides · B. brizoides · B. bromoides

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal November 15, 2007:

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. Shou-liang Chen, De-Zhu Li, Guanghua Zhu, Zhenlan Wu, Sheng-lian Lu, Liang Liu, Zheng-ping Wang, Bi-xing Sun, Zheng-de Zhu, Nianhe Xia, Liang-zhi Jia, Zhenhua Guo, Wenli Chen, Xiang Chen, Yang Guangyao, Sylvia M. Phillips, Chris Stapleton, Robert J. Soreng, Susan G. Aiken, Nikolai N. Tzvelev, Paul M. Peterson, Stephen A. Renvoize, Marina V. Olonova & Klaus Ammann "Poaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 22. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  2. Liang Liu, Guanghua Zhu & Klaus Ammann "Bromus". in Flora of China Vol. 22 Page 370, 371. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  3. "Bromus tectorum". in Flora of China Vol. 22 Page 373, 380, 382. Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  4. Mean = 508.170 meters (1,667.224 feet), Standard Deviation = 595.480 based on 1,768 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]
Last Revised: 7/1/2009