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~ “7.2 ae - - is 
111 
The panicle is always upright (hence the name or the grass), narrow and contracted; its branches 
are short and rough; each branch bears very few spikelets. The spikelet itself (figs. 1 and 2) has a 
narrow lanceolate form and contains from five to seven flowers. The lower pale has from five to seven 
rough ribs and is awned, the awn being half the length of the pale. The anthers are saffron-coloured 
i. e. bright orange-yellow. The styles (fig. 3) are inserted laterally beneath the apex of the ovary 
(distinction from Festuca). The ovary is downy, especially at the apex (fig. 3). 
The false-fruit (figs. 4 to 6) is slender, from 10 to 1% mm. long, not reckoning the awn, from 
1h to 24 mm. with the awn. The stalk is very oblique at the apex, from 2 to 4.5 mm., long and 
covered with short rough hair. The lower pale is almost flat, with very slight curvature toward the 
ventral surface, hence almost the whole upper pale is seen when the false fruit is viewed ventrally 
(fig. 4%). In this respect, the seed of upright brome very decidedly differs from that of various-leaved 
fescue: in the latter case, even the keels of the upper pale are concealed by the excessive ventral 
curvature of the lower pale. That portion of the upper pale which lies between the two keels is 
pressed down into the groove of the caryopsis. The longitudinal line which appears in the middle of 
this depression is the hilum seen through the pale (fig. 4). 
The caryopsis (figs. 7 to 9) is dark brown, and boat-shaped (navicular); the ventral surface 
(fig. 7) has a broad shallow groove, the dorsal is slightly keeled (fig. 8). The apex bears traces of 
the pubescence of the ovary and the persistent remnants of the style on the sides near the apex, The 
black line occupying the middle of the ventral groove is the hilum. 
Upright brome is liable to be confounded with meadow fescue. The brome can be distinguished 
at once by noting the lowest branches of the panicle, three or five of which originate from a common 
point of the axis, whereas in meadow fescue the lowest branches are either solitary or in pairs. The 
awns of the lower pales, and the long hairs fringing the leaves are also distinctive of the brome 
The resemblance to awnless brome grass (which see) is more marked. The latter has long under- 
eround stolons, whereas upright brome grows in tufts and never forms stolons, 
The common names applied to this grass are: erect brome, upright brome, upright perennial 
brome, etc. In commerce, it is usually known as meadow brome (Bromus pratensis, Lamarck). It is 
also called upright fescue (Festuca erecta, Wallr.), mountain brome grass (Bromus montanus, Flora of 
Wetterau) and mountain fescue (Festuca montana, Savi). 
In Southern France, this grass has long been in cultivation, but only within recent years 
attempts have been made to grow it in more Northern lands. On some parts of the Cotteswold Hills 
it forms a large part of the pastures, 
The fodder yielded by upright brome is only mediocre. Nevertheless, in certain cir- 
cumstances it is very useful, especially on chalky or calcareous soils which are too, poor or 
too shallow for sainfoin. Upright brome stands in the same relation to a chalky soil as 
sheep’s fescue does to a poor sand. On poor chalk-land no other grass gives such satisfaction, 
whether used for cutting or pasture. It is not placed among the good fodder plants 
because of its high yield or nutritive value, but because it succeeds on certain poor soils 
where better grasses cannot be grown. In such circumstances, it is a veritable boon, but 
on good soils it is unprofitable and out of place. Grown under conditions suitable for it, 
it is a strong perennial. Vilmorin sowed it 20 years ago and still the grass is good, al- 
though manure has never been applied. Its duration depends much on the nature of the 
soil. In warm calcareous soils it lasts longer than in those which are deficient in lime. 
Occurrence, climate, soil, manure. Upright brome is indigenous: to Europe extending from 
Spain to the Urals and from Italy and Macedonia to Southern Scandinavia; in the North it is rarer; 
to Africa in Algiers; to Asia in Caucasus and Georgia. It is not indigenous to North America. 
Distinetion 
from 
allied grasses. 
Name. 
History. 
Agricultural 
value. 
Geographical 
distribution. 
