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Rye brome (Bromus secalinus)

Rye brome Common Names: Bromegrass, cheat, chess

Description: Introduced to North America likely in contaminated grain shipments.

Habit: Annual grass that can reach a height of 17.7-39.4 inches.

Leaves: 4-8 along central culm, alternate, green in color, blade-shaped, 9 inches long and 0.3 in wide, scaberulous, pubescent.

Stems: Erect, culm, unbranched, 17.7-39.4 inches long,

Flowers: Open panicle of spikelets, 7 inches long, 4 inches wide, nodding, oblong or ovate, laterally compressed; scabrous, glabrous or pubescent. Spiklets contain 4-11 fertile florets

Fruit and seeds: Large grains, linear-oblongoid.

Habitat: Native to Eurasia. Can be found in disturbed sites, meadows, vacant lots, abandoned fields, crop land, field margins, roadsides, railroads, and waste places.

Reproduction: By seed. Capable of producing 800-1600 seeds per plant.

Monitoring and rapid response: Control methods are limited. Small infestations can be hand pulled white mowing and cutting have been effective in larger areas. All equipment must be cleaned thoroughly in order to prevent the spread of seeds. Can be effectively controlled using any of several readily available general use herbicides.

Credits: The information provided in this factsheet was gathered from CABI: Invasive Species Compendium and the Invasive Plant Atlas of the United States.

Individual species images that appear with a number in a black box are courtesy of the Bugwood.org network (http://www.invasive.org).Individual photo author credits may not be included due to the small display size of the images and subsequent difficulty of reading the provided text. All other images appear courtesy of Google (http://images.google.com).


Common Name:

Rye brome

Scientific Name:

Bromus secalinus

Family:

Poaceae
(Grass)

Duration:

Annual

Habit:

Grasses

USDA Symbol:

BRSE