Downy Bromegrass

Bromus tectorum L.

Poaceae (Grass Family)

▲▼ young plants in the fall and early spring prior to flowering

▲ group of close-spaced plants prior to flowering

▲▼ flowering plants

▲▼ inflorescences

▲▼ inflorescences

▲▼ inflorescences

▲ inflorescence

▲▼ ligule and collar region

Downy Bromegrass: 

*    Seedlings germinate in mid to late fall, with very fuzzy, sort of spirally twisted leaves and rounded leaf-tips; ligule is longer

*    Mature plants flower in mid to late spring and are fuzzy over entire plant, both leaf blades and leaf sheaths

*    Flower is a soft, drooping panicle with ½” or longer straight awns on the inflorescences in April-June; spikelets are more slender and more pubescent than those of cheat