Downy Brome

Grass (Poaceae family):

Bromus tectorum L.

EPPO code:

BROTE

Other names:

Cheat, cheat grass, cheat grass brome, downy chess, slender chess

Species information

Lifecycle:

Annual or winter annual.

Propagation:

Reproduces by seed.

Emergence:

Most seeds germinate in the autumn, but some also germinate in the spring.

Habitat:

Downy brome grows throughout Ontario on all soil types. Most commonly, though, it grows on roadsides, in waste places, on beaches and in cereal field crops.

Competitiveness:

Field studies in the United States have shown as much as a 92% yield loss in winter wheat when competing with a 200 plant/m² density when it emerges prior to wheat.

Identification clues

Auricles:

None.

Ligule:

Membranous.

Leaf blade:

The leaf blades of downy brome have soft, short, dense hairs on both surfaces.

Leaf sheath:

Leaf sheaths are rounded and densely haired with short, soft hairs that are white with a tinge of red at the base.

Stem:

In good soil conditions, downy brome’s stem grows 20–60 cm tall. In gravelly soils, it grows less than 20 cm high.

Seed heads:

Downy brome flowers from May to August. The seed head is a long panicle with many soft, slender and dropping branches. Spikelets have long awns and 2–7 florets.

Roots:

Fibrous.

Often mistaken for

I know it's not Chess because downy brome has a much hairier leaf sheath and its spikelet has long awns and much thinner seeds.