Bromus secalinus

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Bromus secalinus
Bromus secalinus0.jpg
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Clade: Commelinids
Order: Poales
Family: Poaceae
Subfamily: Pooideae
Genus: Bromus
Species:
B. secalinus
Binomial name
Bromus secalinus

Bromus secalinus is a species of bromegrass known as rye brome. [2] The specific epithet secalinus is Latin, meaning "rye-like". The fruits are hard, rounded glumes that appear superficially similar to the rye grain, which gives the brome its common and scientific name. The grass has a diploid number of 28.

Contents

The grass is native to Eurasia but is well known in many other parts of the world where it has been introduced. It is a noxious weed throughout much of North America.

Description

Bromus secalinus is an annual grass that grows 0.1–1.3 m (4 in–4 ft 3 in) high. The upper sheaths are smooth and strongly nerved, and the lower sheaths are glabrous or slightly pubescent. The leaf blades are 15–30 cm (6–12 in) long and 2–4 mm (0.1–0.2 in) wide, and are covered with short hairs. The panicles are 3–20 cm (1–8 in) long and 2.5–12 cm (1–5 in) wide with spreading or ascending branches. The spreading inflorescence nods when it becomes heavy with grain though prior to maturity the panicle is erect. The spikelets are on elongated pedicels, with each spikelet bearing five to fifteen flowers. The spikelets are glabrous or scabrous and become lax when mature. The ovoid spikelets measure 10–20 mm (0.4–0.8 in) long. The rachilla is obvious in youth and becomes obscured by the expanding florets with age. The lower glumes are three to five-veined and 4–6 mm (0.2–0.2 in) long, and the upper glumes are seven-veined and 6–7 mm (0.2–0.3 in) long. The lemmas become spreading when mature and are strongly inrolled. The lemmas have seven inconspicuous nerves and are 5–8 mm (0.2–0.3 in) long and 1.7–2.5 mm (0.1–0.1 in) wide. The awns are straight or curved and are 1–6 mm (0.0–0.2 in) long. The palea is as long or longer than the lemma and its tip slightly projects at maturity. The anthers are 1.5–1.8 mm (0.1–0.1 in) long. The caryopses are thick and strongly inrolled when mature. [3] [4]

The grass flowers from June to September.

In youth the two brome grasses Bromus secalinus and Bromus arvensis are very similar, but are easily distinguishable in maturity. Bromus arvensis has fully pubescent leaves but Bromus secalinus lacks trichomes on the undersides of leaves. [5]

Habitat and distribution

Bromus secalinus occurs in fields areas, road verges, and occasionally cornfields, in lightly stony soils. [5]

The grass is native to Europe but is widespread throughout the United States and in Quebec and British Columbia. [4]

Related Research Articles

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Bromus arvensis, the field brome, is a brome grass native to Europe and Asia. The specific epithet arvensis is Latin, meaning "of cultivated land".

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<i>Bromus interruptus</i> Species of flowering plant in the family Poaceae

Bromus interruptus, commonly known as the interrupted brome, is a flowering plant in the grass family. It is endemic to southern and central England, which became extinct in the wild in 1972. After several decades in cultivation, the interrupted brome was re-introduced to Aston Rowant National Nature Reserve in 2004, marking the first known re-introduction of an extinct plant in Britain. The plant was a weed of waste places and arable agriculture, particularly of sainfoin cultivation. It can be distinguished from all other Bromus species by its deeply split, or bifid, palea.

<i>Bromus madritensis</i> Species of grass

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<i>Bromus briziformis</i> Species of grass

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<i>Bromus catharticus</i> Species of grass

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<i>Bromus ciliatus</i> Species of grass

Bromus ciliatus is a species of brome grass known by the common name fringed brome. It is native to most of North America, including most of Canada, most of the United States except for some portions of the South, and northern Mexico. It is a plant of many habitats, including temperate coniferous forest. The specific epithet ciliatus is Latin for "ciliate", referring to the delicate hairs of the leaf blades.

<i>Bromus kalmii</i> Species of grass

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<i>Melica ciliata</i> Species of plant

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Hopia obtusa is a species of grass commonly known as vine mesquite. This plant was treated as Panicum obtusum until recently when more molecular and genetic material revealed new information about it. Hopia obtusa is now placed in the monotypic genus Hopia.

<i>Bromus erectus</i> Species of grass

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<i>Bromus aleutensis</i> Species of flowering plant

Bromus aleutensis, commonly known as the Aleutian brome, is a perennial grass found in North America. B. aleutensis has a diploid number of 56.

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<i>Bromus latiglumis</i> Species of grass

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<i>Bromus nottowayanus</i> Species of grass

Bromus nottowayanus, the Nottoway Valley brome or satin brome, is a brome grass native to North America. The specific epithet nottowayanus refers to the Nottoway Valley. The grass has a diploid number of 14.

<i>Bromus japonicus</i> Species of grass

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<i>Bromus squarrosus</i> Species of grass

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<i>Bromus rigidus</i> Species of grass

Bromus rigidus, the ripgut brome, is a grass native to Eurasia and naturalized in North America. The specific epithet rigidus means rigid or stiff.

Bromus pacificus, the Pacific brome, is a perennial grass native to the Pacific coast of North America. Bromus pacificus has a diploid number of 28.

<i>Bromus racemosus</i> Species of grass in the genus Bromus

Bromus racemosus, the smooth brome or bald brome, is a species of flowering plant in the family Poaceae. It is native to subarctic and temperate Eurasia, and widely introduced elsewhere, including North America, Iceland, the Southern Cone of South America, the Korean Peninsula, Australia, and New Zealand. It grows in alkaline meadows and in waste places.

References

  1. ↑  A description of B. secalinus was first published in Species Plantarum 1: 76. 1753. "Plant Name Details for Bromus secalinus". IPNI . Retrieved August 9, 2010.
  2. ↑ BSBI List 2007 (xls). Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. Archived from the original (xls) on 2015-06-26. Retrieved 2014-10-17.
  3. ↑ Merrit Lyndon Fernald (1970). R. C. Rollins (ed.). Gray's Manual of Botany (Eighth (Centennial) - Illustrated ed.). D. Van Nostrand Company. p. 102. ISBN   0-442-22250-5.
  4. 1 2 Flora of North America Editorial Committee (1993). Flora of North America: North of Mexico. 24. Oxford University Press. p. 230. ISBN   9780195310719.
  5. 1 2 John Leonard Knapp (1804). Gramina Britannica; Or Representations of the British Grasses (etc.). Bensley.
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