HOW TO KNOW THE GRASSES 



87a. Lemmas overlapping; rachilla not exposed; owns well developed; 

 upper sheaths pubescent 88 



87b. Margins of lemmas rolling inward at maturity, exposing the rachil- 

 la; awns short, kinked; upper sheaths glabrous. Fig. 121. 



CHESS, CHEAT Bromus secalinus L. 



Annual; tuited; plants 30 — 60 cm. tall; panicles 

 7 — 12 cm. long. Chess is a common weed of road- 

 sides and grainfields. Maturing quickly, the seeds 

 may be harvested with wheat or other small grains 

 and replanted elsewhere. Introduced from Europe. 

 May — July. Old superstition claimed that cheat 

 came from degenerate small grains, hence the 

 name. 



Figure 121 



88a. Mature spikelets 3 — 5 mm. wide; lower sheaths densely woolly 

 with tangled or matted soft hairs. Fig. 122. 



JAPANESE BROME Bromus japonicus Thunb. 



Annual; tufted; plants 40 — 70 cm. tall; panicles 

 drooping, with delicate flexuous branches. The 

 awns may be straight or bent, depending upon 

 their moisture content. Japanese brome was in- 

 troduced from the Old World, and is now a very 

 widespread weed of roadsides, fields, and waste 

 ground. May — August. 



Bromus arvensis L., similar to this species, is 

 very rare in this country, but is often confused 

 with Japanese brome. B. arvensis has anthers 

 3 — 4 nun. long, those of B. japonicus being under 

 2 mm. long. 



Figure 122 



64 



