Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

SMOOTH BROME

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Bromus inermis Leyss.

Ottawa County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 16 - 48 inches

Family: Poaceae Grass - Family

Flowering Period: May, June, July

Culms:

Erect or rarely decumbent, glabrous.

Blades:

Flat, 4-16 inches long, 1/4 to 1/2 inch wide, glabrous or pubescent, conspicuous "W" constriction on blades; margins rough.

Sheaths:

Round, prominently veined, glabrous or soft-hairy, waxy.

Ligules:

Membranous, minutely jagged.

Inflorescences:

Panicles, erect, 4-9 inches long, open or contracted, lowest branches whorled, terminal.

Spikelets:

Approximately 1 inch long, less than 1/4 inch wide, pointed, often drooping, 4-10-flowered; glumes unequal, papery, first glume 1-nerved, second glume usually 3-nerved; lemmas greenish to purplish, mostly without awns, longer than glumes.

Habitat:

Roadsides, pastures, hayfields, waterways, ditches, and waste areas, more abundant in highly fertile sandy loam or clay loam soils.

Distribution:

Throughout Kansas.

Origin:

Introduced from Eurasia into the U. S. in the 1880s, and now naturalized.

Forage Value:

Smooth brome is highly nutritious and palatable to livestock. It makes excellent hay and forage.

Comments:

Strongly rhizomatous. Smooth brome is widely planted for pasture grazing, hay, wildlife cover, and to prevent soil erosion. It frequently escapes into other habitats. The prominent W-shaped constriction on the leaf blades readily distinguishes smooth brome.

Smooth brome