GRASS FAMILY 



235 



26. Bromus sterilis L. 

 Sterile Brome-grass. Fig. 5.S5. 



Bromus sterilis L. Sp. PI. 77. 1753. 



Culms erect, smooth, 50-100 cm. tall ; sheaths 

 pubescent ; blades pubescent ; panicle lax and open, 

 drooping. 10-20 cm. long; spikelets 2.5-3.5 cm. long, 

 6-10-flo\vered ; glumes lanceolate-subulate, smooth 

 or scabrous, the first 1-nervcd, 7-9 mm. long, the 

 second 3-nerved, 11-13 mm. long; lennnas linear- 

 lanceolate. 5-7-nerved, 17-20 mm. long, scabrous or 

 scabrous-pubescent, deeply bidentate, the teeth 2 mm. 

 long, the awn 2-3 cm. long. 



Introduced at a few localities from Washington to Cali- 

 fornia. May-June. Type locality, European. 



27. Bromus rigidus Roth. 



Ripgut-grass. Fig. 556. 



Bromus viUosus Forsk. Fl. Aegypt. Arab. 23. 1775, not Scop. 

 1772. 



Bromus rigidus Roth, Roem. & Ust. Mag. Bot. 10: 21. 1790. 



Bromus maximus Desf. Fl. Atlant. 1: 95. />/. 26. 1798, not 

 Gilib. 1792. 



Culms 40-70 cm. tall; sheaths and blades pilose; 

 panicle open, rather few-flowered, 7-12 cm. long, 

 the lower branches 1-2 cm. long ; spikelets usually 

 5-7-flowered. 3-4 mm. long; glumes smooth, narrow, 

 acuminate, the first 1.5-2 cm. long, 1-nerved, the 

 second 2.5-3 cm. long, 3-nerved ; lemmas 5-nerved, 

 2.5-3 cm. long, scabrous or puberulent, 2-toothed, 

 the teeth 3-4 mm. long ; awn stout, 3.5-5 cm. long. 



A weed in open ground and waste places, introduced from 

 the Mediterranean region; occasional in Washington and 

 Oregon, common from San Francisco southward. Injurious 

 to stock. Apr.-June. Type locality, European. 



Bromus rigidus gussonei (Pari.) Coss. & Dur. Expl. Sci. 

 Alger. 2: 159. 1867. B. maximus gussonei Pari. Fl. Ital. 

 1: 407. 1848. Differs in having a more open panicle, the 

 lower branches as much as 10-12 cm. long. Washington to 

 California and Arizona. More common than the species in 

 middle and northern California. Type locality, European. 



28. Bromus commutatus Schrad. 



Downy-sheathed Cheat. 



Fig. 557. 



Bromus f'tifeusis Ehrh.; Iloffm. Deutschl. Fl. ed. 2. 2: 52. 

 1800, not Lam. 1785. 



Bromus commutatus Schrad. Fl. Germ. 353. 1806. 



Resembling B. sccalinus; sheaths pilose with 

 short retrorse hairs ; lemmas with an obtuse angle 

 on the margin just al)Ove the middle, the margin 

 not as strongly inrolled in fruit as in B. secaliiius, 

 the awn straight and rather longer. In fruit the less 

 turgid florets are imbricate, leaving no spaces at the 

 base of the florets as in B. secalinus. 



A weed in fields and waste places, Washington to Cali- 

 fornia and Montana, and more sparingly in the eastern 

 States. May-July. Type locality, European. 



Bromus commutatus apricorum Simonkai, Enum. Fl. 

 Transs. 583. 1886. Lemmas pubescent. Oregon. Introduced 

 from Europe. 



