r 



FESTUCE^ 



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 purphsh, 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 

 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 



Fig. 56. Bromus inermis. In- 

 florescence, XH; spikelet, X3. 



