Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

CANADA BROME

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Bromus pubescens Muhl. ex Willd.

Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 30-60 inches

Family: Poaceae – Grass Family

Flowering Period: May, June, July

Also Called:

Hairy woodland brome.

Culms:

Erect, bases decumbent; nodes 4-6, conspicuous, sparsely to densely pilose.

Blades:

Basal and cauline; 6 to 14 inches long, 1/5 to 3/5 inch wide, flat, narrowed at base, glabrous to pilose, especially adaxially.

Sheaths:

Terete, pilose to hispid or rarely glabrous, margins connate; auricles absent.

Ligules:

Membranous, obtuse to truncate, erose, less than 1/12 inch long.

Inflorescences:

Panicles, 4 to 10 inches long, very open; branches erect to spreading to drooping, often flexuous.

Spikelets:

3/5 to 1 1/5 inch long (excluding awns), 1/8 to 2/5 inch wide, nearly terete, awned; pedicels 1/3 to 4/5 inch long; florets 4-11; glumes sparsely to densely hairy; first glume 1-veined, 1/5 to 1/8 inch long; second glume 3-5-veined, 1/4 to 2/5 inch long; lemmas 1/3 to 2/5 inch long, pubescent, awned; awns 1/5 to 2/5 inch long, straight.

Habitat:

Moist, rocky woodlands; stream banks.

Distribution:

East 1/3 of Kansas

Origin:

Native

Forage Value:

Good forage quality while the plant is growing but quality declines with maturity.

Comments:

Non-rhizomatous

Canada brome spikelets