Bromus secalinus L.
Cheat

Habit: 		Erect annual.
Culms: 		30-90 cm. high, smooth, or pubescent at the nodes.
Blades: 	10-25 cm. long, strongly nerved, flat; sparsely pubescent above, glabrous beneath.
Sheaths: 	About as long as the internodes, strongly nerved, glabrous or the lower puberulent.
Ligule: 	Membranous, 1-2.5 mm. long, erose.
Inflorescence:	Panicle exserted, 3-20 cm. long at first erect and rather narrow, finally the branches somewhat
		spreading and drooping, the unequal branches usually in whorls of 4-6, the shorter bearing one spikelet
		and the longer 3-4 spikelets at their extremities.
Spikelets: 	Ovoid-lanceolate, becoming somewhat turgid at maturity, 1-2 cm. long, 408 mm. broad, 5-10-flowered,
		somewhat flattened.
Glumes: 	Minutely scabrous towards the tip, the first 3-5 nerved, 4-6 mm. long, the second 7-nerved, 5-7 mm.
		long, scarious along the margins.
Lemmas: 	7-nerved, 6-8 mm. long, elliptic, obtuse, smooth or minutely rough, the margin scarious, strongly
		inrolled at maturity, apex bidentate, with wavy awns 3-5 mm. long (sometimes shorter or missing).
Palea: 		About as long as its lemma, ciliate-hispid.
Fruit: 		Grain furrowed, adhering to the palea.  Small openings at the base of the turgid florets permit
		light to pass through the spikelet.
Habitat: 	Grain fields, roadsides and other waste places.  April-August.
Kansas Range: 	East three fourths.
Remarks: 	A variety, Bromus secalinus velutinus (Schrad.), has pubescent spikelets and occurs in Cloud and
		Montgomery counties.
Synonyms:	Bromus secalinus L. var. hirsutus Kindb.
		Bromus secalinus L. var. hirtus (F.W. Schultz) Hegi