Bromus catharticus var. elatus

Chilean brome

Family: Poaceae · Type: perennial · Not Native

Chilean brome is a naturalized perennial grass found in southern North Coast, southern North Coast Ranges, northern and central Sierra Nevada Foothills, deltaic Great Valley, Central Coast, San Francisco Bay Area, and northern Channel Islands in disturbed areas at elevations below 200 meters. Flowering from April to August, this plant produces green to brown spikelets 15 to 25 millimeters long with prominent veins on the distal portion of the lemma. Growing with erect stems 30 to 110 centimeters tall, it forms dense, ascending to erect branching inflorescences 8 to 20 centimeters long. Its leaves are glabrous or hairy, with blades 3 to 10 millimeters wide and ligules 1 to 4 millimeters long. The spikelets feature lemmas with 6 to 12 millimeter awns and are generally hairy, especially toward the distal portion.

Habitat: Disturbed areas

Bloom period: Apr-Aug

Elevation: < 200 m

Bioregions: s NCo, s NCoR, n&ampc SNF, deltaic GV, CCo, SnFrB, n ChI

California counties: Tuolumne, Stanislaus, Solano, Santa Barbara, San Mateo, Nevada, Napa, Lake, Humboldt, El Dorado, Amador, Alameda, Marin, Monterey, San Francisco, San Luis Obispo, Sonoma, Ventura, Santa Clara, Sacramento, Mendocino, Fresno

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.