Belongs within: Pooideae.
Bromus, the bromes or cheatgrasses, is a genus of grasses found primarily in the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Representatives have leaf sheath margins fused, and style branches originating on the abaxial side of the ovary (Kellogg 2015). Species such as poverty brome B. sterilis and ripgut brome B. diandrus are considered undesirable in pasture due to their high silica content. Bromus tectorum, drooping brome or cheatgrass, is a native of the western Palaearctic that has become a prominent invasive in many other parts of the world. Conversely, rescue grass B. catharticus is a native of South America that has become widespread in the Palaearctic (Hickman 1993).
Bromus catharticus is distinguished by its short or absent awns on the lemmas, at most 3 mm long; spikelets are strongly compressed and glumes and lemmas are keeled. Bromus arizonicus is a North American annual species with the lemma body more or less equal in length to the upper glume (Hickman 1993).
Characters (Kellogg 2015): Annuals or perennials, caespitose or rhizomatous. Leaf sheath margins fused. Inflorescence branches branched or unbranched. Spikelets with 3 to 30 flowers. Glume apices acute, sometimes mucronate. Lemma entire to bidentate, awnless to more often awned, awn from a sinus or abaxial just below apex. Style branches originating on abaxial side of ovary, ovary extending adaxial to style branches and ending in two lobes. 2n = 14, 28, 42, 56, 70, 84.
<==Bromus L. 1753 [incl. Boissiera Hochst. ex Steud. 1840]K15
|--B. (sect. Aphaneroneuron) racemosusS98
|--B. sect. Neobromus (Shear) Hitchcock 1935S98
| `--B. (sect. *N.) triniiS98 [incl. B. trinii var. excelsusH93]
|--B. (sect. Sapheneuron) lanceolatus Roth 1797 [incl. B. macrostachys]S98
`--B. sect. Triniusia (Steudel) Nevski 1934 [=Triniusa Steudel 1854]S98
|--B. (sect. *T.) danthoniae von Trinius in Meyer 1831 (see below for synonymy)S98
| |--B. d. ssp. danthoniaeS98
| |--B. d. ssp. pseudodanthoniae (Dobrov) Scholz 1998 (see below for synonymy)S98
| `--B. d. ssp. rogersii Hubbard ex Scholz 1998S98
`--B. turcomanicus Scholz 1998S98
Bromus incertae sedis:
B. albowianusD03
B. alopecurusH93 [=Serrafalcus alopecuros (Poir.) Gardner 1952G52; incl. B. alopecuroidesG52, S. alopecuroidesG52]
|--B. a. ssp. alopecurusPT98
`--B. a. ssp. caroli-henriciPT98
B. anomalus [incl. B. porteri]H93
B. arizonicusH93
B. auleticusS06
B. berteroanusK15
B. briziformisH93
B. carinatusH59
|--B. c. var. carinatus [incl. B. breviaristatus, B. marginatus, B. polyanthus]H93
`--B. c. var. maritimusH93
B. catharticusH93 [=Ceratochlora catharticaG52; incl. C. festucoidesB78, Bromus haenkeanusH93, Bromus willdenoviiH93]
B. ciliatus [incl. B. richardsonii]H93
B. diandrusOS04
B. erectusS06
B. fasciculatusPT98
B. grandisO88
B. gussonii [=B. rigidus var. gussonii; incl. B. maximus]G52
B. hordeaceusH93 (see below for synonymy)
B. inermisGPWG01
|--B. i. ssp. inermisH93
`--B. i. ssp. pumpellianusH93
B. intermediusPT98
B. japonicusKM08 [incl. B. racemosus var. commutatusC06, H93]
B. kalmii [incl. B. purgans (nom. confusum)]V72
B. laevipes [incl. B. pseudolaevipes]H93
B. lanatusR96
B. latiglumisV72
B. madritensis Linnaeus 1755PL04
|--B. m. ssp. madritensisH93
`--B. m. ssp. rubensH93
B. mangoK15
B. orcuttianus [incl. B. orcuttianus var. hallii]H93
B. oxyodonS98
B. pectinatusS98
B. pictusRJ11
B. pubescens [incl. B. nottowayanus]V72
|--B. p. f. pubescensV72
`--B. p. f. glabriflorusV72
B. ramosusS03
B. rigidusG88
B. scopariusS98
B. secalinusH93
B. squarrosus Linnaeus 1753PL04
B. stramineusB00
B. sterilisC06
B. suksdorfiiH93
B. tectorum [incl. B. tectorum var. glabratus]H93
B. unioloidesK15 [=Ceratochloa unioloidesC06, Festuca unioloidesB78]
| i. s.: B. u. f. chasmogama Hackel in Stuckert 1906S06
|--B. u. var. unioloidesS06
|--B. u. var. brevisS06
`--B. u. var. humilisS06
B. vulgarisH93
Nomen invalidum: Bromus danthoniae var. uniaristatus Melderis 1960S98
Bromus danthoniae von Trinius in Meyer 1831 [=B. lanceolatus var. danthoniae (von Trinius) Dinsm. 1933, B. macrostachys ssp. danthoniae (von Trinius) Asch. & Graebner 1901, Triniusia danthoniae (von Trinius) Steudel 1854; incl. B. danthoniae var. lanuginosus Roshev. 1926]S98
Bromus danthoniae ssp. pseudodanthoniae (Dobrov) Scholz 1998 [=B. pseudodanthoniae Dobrov 1925; incl. B. danthoniae var. submuticus Mouterde 1966, B. macrostachys var. triaristatus Hackel 1879]S98
Bromus hordeaceusH93 [=Serrafalcus hordeaceusG52; incl. B. arvensisH93, B. hordeaceus ssp. molliformisH93, Serrafalcus molliformisG52, B. mollisG52, S. mollisG52]
*Type species of generic name indicated
References
[B78] Bentham, G. 1878. Flora Australiensis: A description of the plants of the Australian Territory vol. 7. Roxburghiaceae to Filices. L. Reeve & Co.: London.
[B00] Braby, M. F. 2000. Butterflies of Australia: their identification, biology and distribution vol. 2. CSIRO Publishing: Collingwood (Victoria).
[C06] Cheeseman, T. F. 1906. Manual of the New Zealand Flora. John Mackay, Government Printer: Wellington.
[D03] Dusén, P. 1903. The vegetation of western Patagonia. In: Scott, W. B. (ed.) Reports of the Princeton University Expeditions to Patagonia, 1896–1899 vol. 8. Botany pp. 1–34. The University: Princeton (New Jersey).
[G52] Gardner, C. A. 1952. Flora of Western Australia vol. 1 pt 1. Gramineae. William H. Wyatt: Perth.
[GPWG01] Grass Phylogeny Working Group. 2001. Phylogeny and subfamilial classification of the grasses (Poaceae). Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 88 (3): 373–457.
[G88] Grubb, P. J. 1988. The uncoupling of disturbance and recruitment, two kinds of seed bank, and persistence of plant populations at the regional and local scales. Annales Zoologici Fennici 25: 23–26.
[H59] Healy, A. J. 1959. Contributions to a knowledge of the adventive flora of New Zealand, no. 7. Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand 86 (1): 113–118.
[H93] Hickman, J. C. (ed.) 1993. The Jepson Manual: Higher Plants of California. University of California Press: Berkeley (California).
[KM08] Keighery, G. J., & W. Muir. 2008. Vegetation and vascular flora of Faure Island, Shark Bay, Western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum Supplement 75: 11–19.
[K15] Kellogg, E. A. 2015. The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants vol. 13. Flowering Plants: Monocots: Poaceae. Springer.
[OS04] Obbens, F. J., & L. W. Sage. 2004. Vegetation and flora of a diverse upland remnant of the Western Australian wheatbelt (Nature Reserve A21064). Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia 87 (1): 19–28.
[O88] Ohba, H. 1988. The alpine flora of the Nepal Himalayas: an introductory note. In: Ohba, H., & S. B. Malla (eds) The Himalayan Plants vol. 1. The University Museum, University of Tokyo, Bulletin 31: 19–46.
[PT98] Panitsa, M., & D. Tzanoudakis. 1998. Contribution to the study of the Greek flora: flora and vegetation of the E Aegean islands Agathonisi and Pharmakonisi. Willdenowia 28: 95–116.
[PL04] Pohl, G., & I. Lenski. 2004. Zur Verbreitung und Vergesellschaftung von Pennisetum orientale Rich. in Nordeuböa (Griechenland) (Poaceae, Paniceae). Senckenbergiana Biologica 83 (2): 209–223.
[R96] Righi, G. 1996. Colombian earthworms. Studies on Tropical Andean Ecosystems 4: 485–607.
[RJ11] Rising, J. D., A. Jaramillo, J. L. Copete, P. G. Ryan & S. C. Madge. 2011. Family Emberizidae (buntings and New World sparrows). In: Hoyo, J. del, A. Elliott & D. A. Christie (eds) Handbook of the Birds of the World vol. 16. Tanagers to New World Blackbirds pp. 428–683. Lynx Edicions: Barcelona.
[S98] Scholz, H. 1998. Notes on Bromus danthoniae and relatives (Gramineae). Willdenowia 28: 143–150.
[S03] Singh, J. N. 2003. Grasses and their hydro-edaphic characteristics in the grassland habitat of Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve, Tamil Nadu. Bulletin of the Botanical Survey of India 45 (1-4): 143–164.
[S06] Stuckert, T. 1906. Segunda contribución al conocimiento de las gramináceas Argentinas. Anales del Museo Nacional de Buenos Aires, serie 3, 6: 409–555.