FESTUCEA 233 
Bromus inermis Leyss. (Fig. 56). 
Awnless brome-grass. Perennial with 
numerous creeping rootstocks; culms 
1 to 3 feet high, smooth, leafy; sheaths 
smooth, closed nearly to the summit, 
bearing on each side at apex a point 
or auricle; ligule membranaceous, 1 to 
2 mm. long, ciliate and more or less 
toothed; blades flat, 5 to 8 mm. wide, 
somewhat scabrous; panicle 4 to 6 
inches long, somewhat open and spread- 
ing, the branches naked below, the 
lower in fascicles; spikelets about an 
inch long, brown or purplish, 8- to 10- 
flowered, slightly flattened; first glume 
narrow, acute, 1-nerved, 5 mm. long, 
the second broader and longer, obtuse, 
3-nerved; lemma 5- to 7-nerved, the 
nerves scabrous, the apex awnless or 
short-awned. 
260. Rescue-grass (B. uni- 
oloides Kunth).— Schrader’s 
brome-grass. An erect annual or 
biennial, with pubescent sheaths 
and a narrow panicle of com- 
pressed spikelets, the lemmas 
keeled, acuminate, awnless. A 
native of South America, culti- 
vated in our southern states for 
winter forage. 
The annual weedy species of 
Bromus are numerous and conspicuous 
on the Pacific slope. The seeds germi- 
nate in the spring and the young plants poe ae eae oF 
cover the plains and foothills with ( . 
green. By midsummer the plants have matured and the green 
mantle has turned to brown. The fruiting florets of some species 
