The Book of Grasses 



N 



Even the earlier farmers of this country thought this grass a 

 wheat that had fallen to low estate, and so called it "Cheat." 

 ^^' Upright Chess (Brdmus racemdsus), also 



found in grain fields and in waste places, is 

 sometimes mistaken for Chess, from which 

 it differs in the more slender stem, narrower, 

 shorter, and more erect panicles, plainly 

 nerved flowering scales, and shorter palets. 



Fringed Brome-grass. Swamp Chess. 



Brdmus cilidtus L. 



Perennial. 



Stem 2-4 ft. tall, erect, usually stout and leafy. 

 Sheaths closed, split near top, frequently 

 downy. Ligule very short. Leaves 5'-! 2' long, 

 2"-6" wide, flat, roughish, usually downy on 

 upper surface, dull or pale green. 



Panicle 4'- 10' long, branches slender, widely 

 spreading or drooping, lower branches 2'-^' 

 long. Spikelets 5-8-flowered, about i' long, 

 green. Outer scales acute, unequal, rough on 

 keels; flowering scales 4"-6" long, obtuse or 

 acute, downy near margins, 2-toothed at apex 

 and bearing a short, straight awn 2"-4" long; 

 palets slightly shorter than flowering scales. 

 Stamens 3. 



Damp soil in open woods and borders of thickets. 

 June to August. 



Newfoundland to New Jersey, west to Manitoba 

 and Minnesota. 



Downy Brome-grass. Brdmus lec- 

 tor um L. 



Root annual. Naturalized from Europe. 



Stem 6'-24' tall, slender, erect or spreading. 

 Sheaths downy. Ligule \"-2" long. Leaves 

 I '-4' long, I "-2" wide, downy, flat. 



Panicle 2'-6' long, branches slender, drooping. 

 Spikelets 5-8 flowered, 6"- 12" long, on slender, 

 drooping pedicels. Outer scales acute, un- 

 equal, rough-hairy, 2nd scale slightly 2-toothed; 

 flowering scale 3"-6" long, rough or hairy, 

 acute, 2-toothed and bearing from between 

 the teeth a straight awn 5"-8" long. Stamens 3. 



Waste places and waysides. May to July. 



New England to Illinois and southward. 

 230 



Chess 

 Bromus secalinus 



