Bromus inermis Leyss.
smooth brome
Poaceae (Grass family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
smooth brome
Poaceae (Grass family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
Species Information
General:
Perennial grass from conspicuous rhizomes; stems smooth to hairy, 20-120 cm tall.
Leaves:
Sheaths smooth to stiff-hairy or soft-hairy; blades 3-10 mm wide, flat, smooth to soft-hairy or stiff-hairy; ear-shaped lobes at the bases of at least some of the leaves up to 1 mm long; ligules minutely jagged or more or less fringed with fine hairs, 0.5-2.5 mm long.
Flowers:
Inflorescence a narrow panicle, (5) 7-20 (27) cm long, the branches ascending to erect; spikelets 5- to 13-flowered, often strongly purplish-tinged, narrow, tapered from near the base, nearly circular in cross-section to somewhat compressed, 1.5-3 (5) cm long; glumes lanceolate, narrowly to broadly translucent-margined, the lower ones usually 1- (rarely 3-) nerved, 4-6 (8) mm long, the upper ones (3) 5-nerved, mostly smooth to strongly hairy, 6-10 mm long; lemmas smooth to hairy or rough, rounded on the backs, 10-13 mm long, the tips blunt, only shallowly bidentate, unawned and merely abruptly pointed or with awns 1-2 (4) mm long; paleas nearly equal to the lemmas; anthers 3, exserted, 4-6 mm long.
Illustration
If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.
Illustration Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia
USDA Species Characteristics
Flower Colour:
Yellow
Blooming Period:
Late Spring
Fruit/Seed characteristics:
Colour: Brown
Present over the Summer
Source: The USDA
Ecology
Ecological Framework for Bromus inermis
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from
original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range.
(Updated August, 2013)
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from
original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range.
(Updated August, 2013)
| Site Information |
Value / Class |
||
|
Avg |
Min |
Max |
|
| Elevation
(metres) |
1234 | 90 | 2661 |
| Slope
Gradient (%) |
23 | 0 | 101 |
|
Aspect (degrees) |
175 | 10 | 360 |
| Soil
Moisture Regime (SMR) [0 - very xeric; 4 - mesic; 8 - hydric] |
3 | 0 | 8 |
| Modal
Nutrient Regime
Class |
C | ||
| #
of field plots species was recorded in: |
254 | ||
| Modal
BEC Zone Class |
ESSF | ||
|
All BEC Zones (# of stations/zone) species was recorded in |
AT(1), BG(27), BWBS(8), CWH(5), ESSF(63), ICH(16), IDF(62), IMA(8), MS(18), PP(11), SBPS(1), SBS(20), SWB(7) | ||
|
Source:
Klinkenberg 2013
|
|||
Habitat and Range
Moist to dry disturbed sites, fields, grassy slopes, meadows and forest edges in all but the alpine zone; ssp. inermis - infrequent in C, SC and SE BC, rare northward and westward; ssp. pumpellianus - frequent in BC east of the Coast-Cascade Mountains; ssp. inermis - introduced from Eurasia; ssp. pumpellianus - N to AK, YT and NT, E to AB and ON and S to CO.Status Information
Synonyms
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Bromopsis inermis (Leyss.) Holub
Bromus inermis subsp. inermis Leyss.