Rescuegrass

Description

Bromus catharticus is a species of brome grass known by the common names rescuegrass, grazing brome, prairie grass, and Schrader's bromegrass. The specific epithet catharticus is Latin, meaning cathartic. The common name rescuegrass refers to the ability of the grass to provide forage after harsh droughts or severe winters. The grass has a diploid number of 42. It is native to South America but it can be found in other places, including Europe, Australia and North America, as an introduced species. Bromus catharticus is a coarse winter annual or biennial grass, growing 0.2–1 m (7.9 in – 3 ft 3.4 in) in height. The culms of the grass are glabrous and 2–4 mm (0.079–0.157 in) thick. The sheaths are densely hairy. The grass lacks auricles and the glabrous ligule is 1–4 mm (0.039–0.157 in) long. The leaf blades are 4–30 cm (1.6–11.8 in) long and 3–10 mm (0.12–0.39 in) wide and are glabrous or pubescent. The erect or nodding panicles are 9–28 cm (3.5–11.0 in) long. The upper spikelets are erect and the lower spikelets are nodding or drooping. Each flat and pointed spikelet is 20–40 mm (0.79–1.57 in) long and has four to twelve florets. The glumes are smooth or occasionally slightly scabrous. The lower glume is fie to seven-veined and 7–12 mm (0.28–0.47 in) long, and the upper glume is seven to nine-veined and 9–17 mm (0.35–0.67 in) long. The lemmas are scabrous or nearly glabrous and lack awns or possess very short awns 2 mm (0.079 in) in length. The lemmas are 11–20 mm (0.43–0.79 in) long. The palea is over half the length of the lemma. The anthers are 0.5–5 mm (0.020–0.197 in) long. Bromus catharticus grows in open and disturbed areas. Bromus is a large genus of grasses, classified in its own tribe Bromeae. They are commonly known as bromes, brome grasses, cheat grasses or chess grasses. Estimates in the scientific literature of the number of species have ranged from 100 to 400, but plant taxonomists currently recognize around 160–170 species. Bromus is part of the cool-season grass lineage (subfamily Pooideae), which includes about 3300 species. Within Pooideae, Bromus is classified in tribe Bromeae (it is the only genus in the tribe). Bromus is closely related to the wheat-grass lineage (tribe Triticeae) that includes such economically important genera as Triticum (wheat), Hordeum (barley) and Secale (rye).