GRASSES OF OHIO 
273 
1. Bromus brizaeformis Fisch. & Mey. Awnless Chess. An 
annual grass with stems 1-2 ft. high, erect, simple, the sheaths and 
blades pubescent. Panicle open and drooping; spikelets broadly 
ovate F 2 -I in. long, awnless; lemma very broad, obtuse, 9-nerved, 
shining. 
In fields and waste places. July, August. Introduced from 
Europe. Cuyahoga County. 
2. Bromus kalmii Gr. Kalm’s Chess. A perennial grass with 
a slender stem, 1-3 ft. high, the sheaths and blades pubescent. 
Panicle open 2-6 inches long, its branches usually flexuous; spikelets 
drooping on capillary peduncles, densely silky pubescent all over; 
lemma 7-nerved, with a straight awn. 
In dry ground, woods and thickets. June, July. Franklin, Lucas. 
3. Bromus hordeaceus L. Soft Chess. An annual grass, the 
whole plant more or less pubescent, 1-3 ft. high, erect, with a rather 
contracted panicle with erect or ascending branches. Spikelets ap- 
pressed-pubescent, on short pedicels; lemma awned, 7-9 nerved, 
awned between the obtuse or acute teeth. The var. leptostachys 
(Perr.) Beck, has glabrous or slightly scabrous spikelets. 
A weed in fields and waste places. July, August. Introduced, 
Wayne, Lorain. 
4. Bromus secalinus L. Common Chess. An annual grass 
with an erect stem 1-3 ft. high, its sheaths smooth and strongly 
nerved but the blades glabrous, rough, or sometimes hairy. Spikelets 
glabrous, turgid on somewhat drooping branches of the open panicle; 
lemma short-awned, becoming convex, thick and inrolled at the mar¬ 
gins. 
Common in fields and waste places and often a pernicious weed 
in grain fields. According to an old superstition wheat changes to 
this chess which is, of course, absolutely impossible. Also called 
cheat. Naturalized from Europe. General and abundant. 
5. Bromus racemosus L. Upright Chess. An annual erect 
grass, 1-3 ft. high, with pubescent sheaths and short erect panicles. 
Spikelets glabrous; lemma obtuse, awned, smooth and shining, the 
nerves prominent. 
In fields and waste places. June-August. Naturalized from 
Europe. General and abundant. 
6. Bromus arvensis L. Field Chess. An annual grass with 
erect stems, 1-3 ft. high, pubescent sheaths, and large open panicles 
with long drooping branches. Spikelets, lanceolate, somewhat shin¬ 
ing; lemma smooth or minutely scabrous, 5-nerved, broadest at the 
middle, bearing an erect awn. 
In fields and waste places. Summer. Introduced from Europe. 
Franklin County. 
