Bromus sterilis is an annual or biennial species of bromegrass known as barren brome, poverty brome, and sterile brome.
Description This is an annual or biennial grass ranging from about 20 to 90 centimeters in maximum height. Leaf blades are 2–6 mm wide and 6–25 cm long with short, soft hair.Edgar E. & Connor H.E. 2000. Flora of New Zealand, Vol. V, Grasses. P. 368. The inflorescence is a spreading panicle with the lower parts drooping more than the upper. The spikelet is up to 6 cm long.
The leaves are rough and hairy, green to purplish in colour. The ligule is pointed, toothed, 2 to 4 mm long.BSBI Description retrieved 10 December 2010.
The panicles are loose, open and nodding. The spikelets are 4 to 6 cm long, with awns, producing 4 to 10 flowers.Grasses by C E Hubbard, 1978, published by Penguin books
Distribution It can be found between sea level and 400 metres, along roadsides, hedge bottoms, and is a common weed of waste ground and gardens.
This grass is native to: northern Africa (Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia); western and middle Asia (Afghanistan, Cyprus, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan); the Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and the Russian Federation in Ciscaucasia and Dagestan); Europe (Albania, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, including Corsica, Germany, Greece, including Crete, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, including Sardinia and Sicily, Moldova, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, including the Balearic Islands, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and the former Yugoslavian states).
Invasive plant species It is well known in many parts of the world where it has become an introduced species. It is a noxious weed on the eastern and western sides of North America, an Invasive species in California.
References
External links
Jepson Manual Treatment USDA Plants Profile Photo gallery