102 THE BROME GRASSES. 



37. BROMUS. Brome Grasses. 



Spikelets from five to many flowered, panicled ; 

 glumes not quite equal, shorter than the flowers, mostly 

 keeled, the lower one to five, the upper three to 

 nine nerved ; paleas herbaceous, lower one convex on 

 the back, or compressed, keeled, five to nine nerved ; 

 awned or bristle-pointed from below the tip ; upper 

 palea at length adhering to the groove of the oblong 

 grain ; fringed on the keel ; stamens three ; styles at- 

 tached below the apex of the ovary. The grasses of 

 this genus are coarse, with large spikelets, somewhat 

 drooping generally when ripe. 



CHESS, CHEAT, WILLARD'S BROMUS (Bromm secalinus), 

 has a spreading panicle, slightly drooping; spikelets 

 ovate, smooth, of a yellowish-green tinge, showing the 

 rachis when in seed, and holding from six to ten rather 

 distinct flowers. In the spikelet exhibited in Fig. 80 

 seven can be distinctly counted; tbe eighth or ninth, 

 imperfectly developed, can often be found. Stems erect, 

 smooth, round, from two to three feet high-, bearing 

 four or five leaves with striated sheaths ; the upper 

 sheath crowned with an obtuse, ragged ligule; the lower 

 sheaths soft and hairy, the hairs pointing downwards ; 

 joints five, slightly hairy ; leaves flat, soft, linear, more 

 downy on the upper than on the under side ; points and 

 margin rough to the touch. Summit of the large glume 

 midway betiveen its base and the summit of the second 

 floret, as seen in Fig. 80 (b), a constant mark of dis- 

 tinction from Bromus racemosus and Bromus mollis. 

 Fig. 79 shows the form of this grass a few days before 

 coming to maturity, and Fig. 81 a magnified spikelet, 

 while Fig. 78 represents the same in a more advanced 

 stage. Flowers in June and July. It has no relation 

 to Italian rye grass, as has been claimed. 



Distinguished from Bromus arvensis in the spikelets 

 having fewer florets, and the outer palea being rounded 



