48 



MISC. PUBLICATION 200, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



Section 3. Bromitjm Dum. 



Annuals; spikelets subcompressed ; glumes and lemmas compara- 

 tively broad, elliptic or oblong-elliptic. Introduced, mostly 

 from Europe. 

 22. Bromus brizaeformis Fisch. and Mey. Rattlesnake chess. 



(Fig. 34.) Culms 30 to 60 cm tall; sheaths and blades pilose-pubes- 

 cent; panicle 5 to 15 cm long, lax, secund, 

 drooping; spikelets rather few, oblong-ovate, 

 1.5 to 2.5 cm long, about 1 cm wide; glumes 

 broad, obtuse, the first 3- to 5-nerved, the 

 second 5- to 9-nerved, about twice as long as 

 the first; lemmas 10 mm long, very broad, 

 inflated, obtuse, smooth, with a broad scarious 

 margin, nearly or quite awnless. o ■ — Sandy 

 fields and waste ground, occasional from Wash- 

 ington and Idaho to California, rare eastward 

 to Massachusetts and Delaware (fig. 35); intro- 

 duced from Europe. Sometimes cultivated for 

 ornament. 



23. Bromus secalinus L. Chess. (Fig. 36.) 

 Culms erect, 30 to 60 cm tall; sheaths glabrous 

 or the lower sometimes puberulent; panicle 

 pyramidal, nodding, 7 to 12 cm long, the lower 

 branches 3 to 5, unequal, drooping; spikelets 

 ovoid-lanceolate, becoming somewhat turgid at 

 maturity, 1 to 2 cm long, 6 to 8 mm wide; 

 glumes obtuse, the first 3- to 5-nerved, 4 to 6 

 mm long, the second 7 -nerved, 6 to 7 mm long; 

 lemmas 7 -nerved, 6 to 8 mm long, elliptic, ob- 

 tuse, smooth or scaberulous, the margin strongly 



involute at maturity, shortly bidentate at apex, the undulate awns 



usually 3 to 5 mm long, sometimes very short or obsolete; palea 



about as long as lemma. O — Introduced 



from Europe, a weed in grainfields and waste 



places, more or less throughout the United 



States. Also called cheat. Occasionally uti- 

 lized for hay in Washington and Oregon. In 



fruit the turgid florets are somewhat distant so 



that, viewing the spikelet sidewise, the light 



passes through the small openings at base of 



each floret. Bromus secalinus var . \ elutinus 



(Schrad.) Koch. Spikelets pubescent, o 



Dalles). Europe. 



The species of the group containing Bromus secalinus, B. commu- 



tatus, B. mollis, and B. racemosus are closely allied, differentiated only 



by arbitrary characters. The forms are recognized as species in most 



recent European floras and this disposition is here followed. 



Figure 34. — Bromus brizae- 

 formis, X Yi- (Leckenby 40, 

 Wash.) 



Figure 35.— Distribution of 

 Bromus brizaeformis 



-Oregon (Corvallis, 



