Bromus secalinus L.

• Authority

  Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

• Family

  Poaceae

• Scientific Name

  Bromus secalinus L.

• Description

  Species Description - Annual 3–12 dm; culms glabrous or sometimes retrorse-hairy below the nodes; middle and upper sheaths generally glabrous, the lower glabrous or hairy; blades 3–8 mm wide, glabrous or hairy; ligule 0.5–3 mm; infl loose and open, 7–15 cm, its branches several from a node, simple or again branched; spikelets 1–2.5 cm, usually drooping, 6–12-fld; first glume oblong, 4–6 mm, 3- or 5-veined, the second similar, 5–8 mm, 5- or 7-veined; lemmas elliptic, obtuse, 6–9 mm, obscurely 7- veined, glabrous or minutely scaberulous, rarely evidently hairy, awnless or with an awn to 6 mm between the two broad teeth; margins of the lemma soon involute, causing the florets to diverge and expose the flexuous rachilla; palea about as long as the lemma; anthers 1–2 mm; 2n=14, 28. Native of Europe, where often a weed in wheat-fields; intr. in grain-fields, roadsides, and waste places throughout the U.S.

• Common Names

  cheat, chess