297 



Fig. 291. BROMTJS SECAIilNUS L. Sp. P1.76. 1753. CHESS or CHEAT.— An 

 erect annual 6-9 dm. {2°-3°) high, with flat leaves, more or less expanded pani- 

 cles, and turgid, short-awned spikelets, which are pendulous in fruit 10-20 cm. 

 (4'-8') long. Sheaths striate; ligule short: leaf-blades 1.5-30 cm. (6'-12') long. 

 rather broadly linear, smooth beneath, more or less scabrous and pilose above. 

 Spikelets [a) 12-20 mm. (6"-10") long, 6 to 12 flowered: empty glumes acute, the 

 first 3 to 5 nerved: flowering glumes obscurely 7-nerved, smooth, or minutely 

 downy along the margins above.— Naturalized in cultivated and waste grounds, 

 especially in grain fields. (Europe and Asia.) June to August. 



From the occurrence of this grass in grain fields arose the illusion that it was 

 degenerated wheat, hence the name cheat or chess, but this idea is without any 

 foundation whatever in fact. It should classed as a troublesome weed. 



