Bromus commutatus

Hairy chess, meadow brome, Meadow Brome

Family: Poaceae · Type: annual · Not Native

Hairy chess is a naturalized annual grass found in northwestern California, the Cascade Range, northern Sierra Nevada, central and southern Sierra Nevada, eastern Sierra Nevada, Sacramento Valley, central coastal California, San Francisco Bay Area, and Great Basin in disturbed areas at elevations below 2,200 meters. Flowering from May to July, this plant produces pale green to tan spikelets 15 to 30 millimeters long in broad, spreading inflorescences. Growing with erect stems 40 to 120 centimeters tall, it has long, soft lower leaf sheaths and blades 3 to 9 millimeters wide. Its leaves feature a small ligule 1 to 4 millimeters long, with lower sheaths distinctly hairy. The spikelets have lemmas with awns 4 to 10 millimeters long, creating a delicate, feathery appearance when mature.

Habitat: Disturbed areas

Bloom period: May-Jul

Elevation: < 2200 m

Bioregions: NW, CaR, n SN, c&amps SNH, SNE, ScV, CCo, SnFrB, GB

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