Bromus tectorum
Common name
cheatgrass
Family
Poaceae
Flora category
Vascular – Exotic
Structural class
Grasses
NVS code
The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.
BROTEC
Conservation status
Not applicable
Habitat
Terrestrial.
Detailed description
Small, green to bluish-green, annual grass to 20–90 cm tall. All parts softly hairy. Stems slender, erect or spreading. Leaves 30–160 × 2–4 mm, flat, velvety; emerging leaf rolled; sheath tubular, soon splitting, usually with purplish tinge. Ligule 2–5 mm long, membranous, frayed, whitish. Seeding stem to 1 m long, drooping to one side; panicle dense, soft, usually purplish. Seed spikelets narrow, 20–35 mm long (incl awns 10–17 mm), 2–3 mm wide. Seeds narrow, Spring–Summer.
Similar taxa
Shorter than B. hordeaceus, and has taller narrower spikelets.
Flowering
April–May
Fruiting
May–June
Year naturalised
1870
Origin
Mediterranean, Europe, N Asia
Etymology
bromus: From the ancient Greek word bromos, referring to a kind of oat
Reason For Introduction
Agricultural
Life Cycle Comments
Annual
Seed
Seeds long and narrow, bearing long beard 12–19 mm. (Wax, Fawcett, Isley eds. 1981).
References and further reading
Wax LM, Fawcett RS, Isley D, eds. 1981. Weeds of the North Central States. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign College of Agriculture, Illinois, USA. 303 p.