Hairy Woodland Brome, Bromus pubescens Muhl. ex Willd., Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden

	Grasses of the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden
	Common Name	Scientific Name	Plant Family	Garden Location	Height	Prime Season
	Hairy Woodland Brome	Bromus pubescens L.	Poaceae (Grasses)	Woodland	2 to 4 feet	June - August
	Native Status	Hairy Woodland Brome or Canada Brome is a native perennial growing from the Great Plains to the east coast, from the lower Canadian Provinces south to the Gulf. In Minnesota it is the least found of the three bromes on the Garden census, found mostly in the SE quadrant of the state to just north of the metro area; plus a few scattered counties in the SW and NW quadrant. There are 52 species of Bromus in the United States, 28 native and 24 introduced. Worldwide the estimate is 100-400 species. There are three species in the Garden. See bottom of page for an ID key.
Notes	Hairy Woodland Brome grows in shaded, moist upland forests, fields, roadsides, stream banks and needs shade. Unlike Smooth Brome it does not have rhizomes. Stems have 5 to 7 nodes that are usually hairy. Leaf collars can be smooth or hairy. Leaf blades are 5 to 13" long and up to 5/8" wide, flat with both surfaces either smooth or hairy. The flowering panicles can be up to 10" long, usually nodding. Seeds have small awns. It can be recognized by its drooping flower panicles, closed leaf sheaths, and the usually hairy stems, stem nodes, leaf sheaths and the glumes which usually have fine hair.


Above: Note the drooping flower panicles. Photo above and at top left ©Anna Gardner, Iowa State University.	Above: A complete example of the plant. Photo©Anna Gardner, Iowa State University
Below: Note the hairy stem and leaf sheath. Photo ©Emmet J. Judziewicz, Freckmann Herbarium, University of Wisconsin Steven's Point.

Species Identification Key	B. inermis	B. latiglumis	B. pubescens
	Smooth Brome	Earlyleaf Brome	Hairy Woodland Brome
Rhizomes present	Yes	No	No
Stems (all are erect)
Height	1.5 to 4 feet	3 to 6 feet	2 to 4 feet
# of stem nodes	3-5	9-20	5-7
Stems hairy?	usually not	usually not	usually
Leaf sheaths hairy?	usually not	can be, throats and collars densely hairy	usually, backward bent
Ligules	to 3mm. smooth	0.8 to 1.4mm hairy	0.5 to 2mm smooth
Leaf Blades
Length	4 - 14", flat	8 - 12", flat	5 - 13", flat
Width	to 15mm (5/8")	to 15mm (5/8")	to 15mm (5/8")
Hair on blades	usually not	usually not	can be with or without
Special feature		2 prominent flanges on collar
Panicles	10 -20 cm long (4 to 8")	10 - 22 cm long	10 - 25 cm long
	open	open	open
	erect	nodding	usually nodding
Panicle branches	ascending or spreading	ascending or spreading	spreading, sometimes ascending, usually drooping
Spikelets	20-40 mm long, sometimes purplish, with 8-10 florets	15-30mm long with 4-9 florets	15-30mm long with 5-10 florets.
Glumes with or without hair	without	either way	usually soft fine hair
Lemmas	usually without hair	longhair on margins	margins usually hairy
Awns present	absent or to 3mm	3 - 4.5mm, straight	4-7mm, straight.

Other Links:----------- -----------Common Name Plant List ---------Scientific Name Plant List----------Home Page

References: Plant characteristics are generally from sources 28c, W2, W3, W5 & W6. Distribution principally from W2 and W1. Planting history generally from 1, 4 & 4a. Other sources by specific reference. See Reference List for details.

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