Grasses | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
DescriptionRipgut brome is a loosely cespitose or tufted annual cool-season bunchgrass. It produces dense, low, leafy growth in the fall. It does not have creeping stolons or rhizomes; however, it has an extensive fibrous root system and tillers profusely. Plants: Culms 7-7/8 to 35-3/8 inches tall, erect or decumbent, puberulent below the panicle; leaf sheaths softly pilose, often with retrorse or spreading hairs; auricles absent; ligules less than 1/8 inch long, obtuse, lacerate or erose; blades 1-3/8 to 14-3/4 inches long, less than 3/8 inches wide, both surfaces pilose. HabitatCultivated and disturbed or degraded sites in desert and semidesert grassland communities, and roadsides within elevations that generally range from 3,200 to 4,600 feet. Propagation/PhenologyReproduces by seed. CommentsNative to southern and western Europe; the common name “ripgut brome” suggests possible damage to animals if they consume the sharp, long-awned florets of this species. Ripgut brome may suppress the growth of native plants. Bromes are known to cause hay fever and asthma. Ripgut brome has poor forage quality. This species generally occurs as a weed in wildland areas of the Southwestern Region rather than as an invasive plant. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
Invasive plants and weeds of the national forests and grasslands in the southwestern region | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||