Rye brome
Bromus secalinus
Auricles
Absent.
Description
Annual or biennial 20-120 cm, loosely tufted or solitary. Flower head is an erect panicle, which droops or nods later. Spikelets are oval, many flowered and 1.2-2.4 cm long with short awns.
Leaf blade
Green, rough and loosely hairy. It is also long, pointed, and twisted.
Rye brome - young plant
Rye brome flower heads
Importance
Increasingly an arable problem spreading from field margins. Mainly in eastern England.
Ligule
Short: 1 - 2 mm. Toothed
On the left is rye brome (note the oval spikelet) and on the right is meadow brome (note the oblong spikelet)
Rye brome flower heads. © Blackthorn Arable.
Rye brome flower heads. © Blackthorn Arable.
Rye brome ligule. © Blackthorn Arable.