Bromus rubens

Red brome, Red Brome

Family: Poaceae · Type: annual · Not Native

Conservation status: Cal-IPC Yes

Red brome is a naturalized annual grass found in California in disturbed areas and roadsides at elevations below 3,050 meters. Flowering from February to June, this plant produces small, dense spikelets with light brown to reddish flowers 20 to 25 millimeters long. Growing with slender stems 10 to 45 centimeters tall, it has an upright to slightly spreading habit with multiple branching inflorescences. Its leaves are glabrous or slightly hairy, with blades 2 to 4 millimeters wide and ligules 1.8 to 4 millimeters long. The plant's distinctive awned lemmas have straight awns 8 to 21 millimeters long, giving the grass a delicate, feathery appearance.

Habitat: Disturbed areas, roadsides

Bloom period: Feb-Jun

Elevation: < 3050 m

Bioregions: CA

California counties: San Luis Obispo, San Bernardino, San Diego, Kern, Ventura, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Orange, Tulare, Inyo, Fresno, Napa, Sacramento, Colusa, Nevada, Merced, Yolo, Solano, Butte, Monterey, Placer, Glenn, Siskiyou, Tehama, Lassen, Stanislaus, Lake, Contra Costa, Riverside, Sierra, Sutter, Calaveras, Trinity, San Benito, Modoc, Amador, Plumas, Madera, Tuolumne, Marin, Humboldt, Santa Clara, Kings, Sonoma, Mendocino, Mariposa, San Francisco, Alameda, Santa Cruz, San Joaquin, Shasta, San Mateo, Imperial

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