Bromus hordeaceous L. =Bromus hordeaceous ssp. hordeaceous =Bromus mollis Poaceae (Grass Family) Eurasia Soft Chess

                                           April  Photo

Plant Characteristics:  Annual, softly pubescent throughout; culms 2-8 dm. tall; sheaths retrorse-pubescent; blades mostly 2-5 mm. wide; panicle contracted, erect, 5-10 cm. long or smaller; spikelets 15-20 mm. long; glumes broad, obtuse, coarsely pilose, or scabrous-pubescent, the 1st 3-5 nerved, 4-6 mm. long, the 2d, 5-7 nerved, 7-8 mm. long; lemmas broad, 7-nerved, obtuse, coarsely pilose or scabrous-pubescent, bidentate, 8-9 mm. long, hyaline on margin; awn stoutish, 6-9 mm. long.

Habitat:  Common weed in waste places, cismontane s. Calif., Santa Catalina and San Clemente Ids.  April-July.

Name:  Bromus, ancient Greek name for the oat.  (Munz, Flora So. Calif. 951).  Latin, mollis, soft.  (Jaeger 157).  Referring to the soft spikelets.  Latin, hordeaceous, of or pertaining to barley.  (Jaeger 120).

General:  Very common in the study area. Photographed specimens were at 23rd St. and the North Star Flats.  (my comments).     Common as a weed on the Pacific Coast in waste places and cultivated soil.  It is also one of the prevalent grasses of the ranges of northwestern Calif. where in some localities it has taken possession of depleted range lands.  (Robbins et al. 62).     Why should nutrient additions from sources such as fertilizer be considered habitat degradation?  Plants adapted to stressful or low-fertility environments may be susceptible to changes in nutrient availability.  For example, in Californian serpentine grassland, where soils formed from serpentine rock are naturally low in nitrogen and phosphorus, application of fertilizer increases non-native annual grasses such as Bromus mollis and Lolium multiflorum and decreases native annuals such as Plantago erecta and Lasthenia californica.  (Huenneke, Laura F. "Managing Land To Protect Rare Plant Populations "FREMONTIA, A Journal of the Native Plant Society”.  July 1988 p. 3-8).     The Karok Indians of northern California ate the seeds of Bromus hordeaceous and Bromus rigidus.  They gathered them in early July, striking the grass heads with a stick.  The seeds would fall into a tightly woven basket and were later parched.  (Campbell 162).      About 100 species of temperate regions.  (Munz, Flora So. Calif. 951).       Bromus mollis misapplied to B. hordeaceous. (Hickman, Ed. 1242).

Text Ref:  Hickman, Ed. 1242; Munz, Flora So. Calif. 955.

Photo Ref:  March 1 84 # 3; April 3 83 # 22,23

Identity: by R. De Ruff, confirmed by F. Roberts.

First Found:  January 1984.

Computer Ref:  Plant Data 96.

Have plant specimen.

Last edit 11/26/04.        

                     April Photo                                                                  March Photo