Bromus

Smooth brome Bromus racemosus, photographed by Rasbak.

Belongs within: Pooideae.

Bromus, the bromes or cheatgrasses, is a genus of grasses found primarily in the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Bromus tectorum, drooping brome or cheatgrass, is a native of the western Palaearctic that has become a prominent invasive in many other parts of the world.

Characters (from Liu, Zhu & Ammann): Annuals or perennials. Culms erect, tufted or with rhizomes. Leaf sheaths closed; leaf blades linear, usually flat; ligules membranous. Panicles spreading or contracted, branches scabrid or pubescent, elongated or arched. Spikelets large, with 3 to many florets, upper florets often sterile; rachilla disarticulating above glumes and between florets, scabrid or shortly hairy; glumes unequal or subequal, shorter than spikelet, lanceolate or nearly ovate, (1–)5–7-veined, apex acute or long acuminate or aristiform; floret callus glabrous or both sides thinly hairy; lemmas rounded on back or compressed to keel, 5–9(–11)-veined, herbaceous or nearly leathery, margins often membranous, apex entire or 2-toothed; awn terminal or arising from lemma between teeth slightly under apex, rarely awnless or 3-awned; palea narrow, usually shorter than lemma, keels ciliate or scabrid. Lodicules 2. Stamens 3. Ovary apex with appendage; styles 2, arising from lower front of appendage. Caryopsis oblong, apex hairy, adaxial surface sulcate. Chromosomes large, x = 7, 2n = 14, 28, 42, 56, 70.

<==Bromus [Bromeae]
    |--B. sect. Aphaneroneuron S98
    |    `--B. racemosus S98
    |--B. sect. Neobromus (Shear) Hitchcock 1935 S98
    |    `--B. (sect. *N.) trinii S98
    |--B. (sect. Sapheneuron) lanceolatus Roth 1797 [incl. B. macrostachys] S98
    `--B. sect. Triniusia (Steudel) Nevski 1934 [=Triniusa Steudel 1854] S98
         |--B. (sect. *T.) danthoniae von Trinius in Meyer 1831 (see below for synonymy) S98
         |    |--B. d. ssp. danthoniae S98
         |    |--B. d. ssp. pseudodanthoniae (Dobrov) Scholz 1998 (see below for synonymy) S98
         |    `--B. d. ssp. rogersii Hubbard ex Scholz 1998 S98
         `--B. turcomanicus Scholz 1998 S98

Bromus incertae sedis:
  B. albowianus D03
  B. alopecuros PT98
    |--B. a. ssp. alopecuros PT98
    `--B. a. ssp. caroli-henrici PT98
  B. arenarius [incl. B. australis] C06
  B. arvensis S03
  B. auleticus S06
  B. carinatus H59
  B. cathartiens B00
  B. commutatus [=B. racemosus var. commutatus] C06
  B. diandrus OS04
  B. erectus BN99
  B. fasciculatus PT98
  B. grandis O88
  B. gussonii H59
  B. inermis GPWG01
  B. intermedius PT98
  B. japonicus KM08
  B. lanatus R96
  B. madritensis Linnaeus 1755 PL04
  B. mollis [incl. B. hordaceus] G88
  B. oxyodon S98
  B. patulus C06
  B. pectinatus S98
  B. pictus RJ11
  B. ramosus S03
  B. rigidus G88
  B. rubens OS04
  B. scoparius S98
  B. squarrosus Linnaeus 1753 PL04
  B. stramineus B00
  B. sterilis PT98
  B. tectorum GPWG01
  B. unioloides [=Ceratochloa unioloides] C06
    |  i. s.: B. u. f. chasmogama Hackel in Stuckert 1906 S06
    |--B. u. var. unioloides S06
    |--B. u. var. brevis S06
    `--B. u. var. humilis S06
  B. willdenowii LNB03

Nomen invalidum: Bromus danthoniae var. uniaristatus Melderis 1960 S98

Bromus (sect. *Triniusia) danthoniae von Trinius in Meyer 1831 [=B. lanceolatus var. danthoniae (von Trinius) Dinsm. 1933, B. macrostachys ssp. danthoniae (von Trinius) Asch. & Graebner 1901, Triniusia danthoniae (von Trinius) Steudel 1854; incl. B. danthoniae var. lanuginosus Roshev. 1926] S98

Bromus danthoniae ssp. pseudodanthoniae (Dobrov) Scholz 1998 [=B. pseudodanthoniae Dobrov 1925; incl. B. danthoniae var. submuticus Mouterde 1966, B. macrostachys var. triaristatus Hackel 1879] S98

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[B00] Braby, M. F. 2000. Butterflies of Australia: their identification, biology and distribution vol. 2. CSIRO Publishing: Collingwood (Victoria).

[BN99] Bungener, P., S. Nussbaum, A. Grub & J. Fuhrer. 1999. Growth response of grassland species to ozone in relation to soil moisture condition and plant strategy. New Phytologist 142: 283–293.

[C06] Cheeseman, T. F. 1906. Manual of the New Zealand Flora. John Mackay, Government Printer: Wellington.

[D03] Dusén, P. 1903. The vegetation of western Patagonia. In: Scott, W. B. (ed.) Reports of the Princeton University Expeditions to Patagonia, 1896–1899 vol. 8. Botany pp. 1–34. The University: Princeton (New Jersey).

[GPWG01] Grass Phylogeny Working Group. 2001. Phylogeny and subfamilial classification of the grasses (Poaceae). Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 88 (3): 373–457.

[G88] Grubb, P. J. 1988. The uncoupling of disturbance and recruitment, two kinds of seed bank, and persistence of plant populations at the regional and local scales. Annales Zoologici Fennici 25: 23–26.

[H59] Healy, A. J. 1959. Contributions to a knowledge of the adventive flora of New Zealand, no. 7. Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand 86 (1): 113–118.

[KM08] Keighery, G. J., & W. Muir. 2008. Vegetation and vascular flora of Faure Island, Shark Bay, Western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum Supplement 75: 11–19.

[LNB03] Ledeganck, P., I. Nijs & L. Beyens. 2003. Plant functional group diversity promotes soil protist diversity. Protist 154 (2): 239–249.

[OS04] Obbens, F. J., & L. W. Sage. 2004. Vegetation and flora of a diverse upland remnant of the Western Australian wheatbelt (Nature Reserve A21064). Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia 87 (1): 19–28.

[O88] Ohba, H. 1988. The alpine flora of the Nepal Himalayas: an introductory note. In: Ohba, H., & S. B. Malla (eds) The Himalayan Plants vol. 1. The University Museum, University of Tokyo, Bulletin 31: 19–46.

[PT98] Panitsa, M., & D. Tzanoudakis. 1998. Contribution to the study of the Greek flora: flora and vegetation of the E Aegean islands Agathonisi and Pharmakonisi. Willdenowia 28: 95–116.

[PL04] Pohl, G., & I. Lenski. 2004. Zur Verbreitung und Vergesellschaftung von Pennisetum orientale Rich. in Nordeuböa (Griechenland) (Poaceae, Paniceae). Senckenbergiana Biologica 83 (2): 209–223.

[R96] Righi, G. 1996. Colombian earthworms. Studies on Tropical Andean Ecosystems 4: 485–607.

[RJ11] Rising, J. D., A. Jaramillo, J. L. Copete, P. G. Ryan & S. C. Madge. 2011. Family Emberizidae (buntings and New World sparrows). In: Hoyo, J. del, A. Elliott & D. A. Christie (eds) Handbook of the Birds of the World vol. 16. Tanagers to New World Blackbirds pp. 428–683. Lynx Edicions: Barcelona.

[S98] Scholz, H. 1998. Notes on Bromus danthoniae and relatives (Gramineae). Willdenowia 28: 143–150.

[S03] Singh, J. N. 2003. Grasses and their hydro-edaphic characteristics in the grassland habitat of Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve, Tamil Nadu. Bulletin of the Botanical Survey of India 45 (1-4): 143–164.

[S06] Stuckert, T. 1906. Segunda contribución al conocimiento de las gramináceas Argentinas. Anales del Museo Nacional de Buenos Aires, serie 3, 6: 408–555.

Last updated: 30 November 2017.