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Poaceae FAMILY

Bromus tectorum

Bromus tectorum

Edibility
2/5
Medicinal
2/5

Safety & Hazards

The awns of the plant can cause mechanical injury to grazing animals[1]. The caryopsis is covered with silicon barbs that aid in attachment to wool, hair and clothing and has a recurved, sharp-tipped awn. The awn moves with wetting and drying, forcing the sharp point of the caryopses deeper into wool or hair and even into the flesh, eyes, ears or toes of animals[2].

Cultivation Details

HabitAnnual
Growth—

Bromus tectorum has a wide range of climatic tolerances. It grows best in regions where the mean annual temperate can range from 5 - 15°c, with a mean temperature in the hottest month ranging from 30 - 40°c and in the coldest month from -5 to 0°c. It can tolerate an absolute minimum of -40°c[2]. Succeeds in ordinary well-drained garden soil in a sunny position[3, 4]. Tolerant of poor soils and saline soils[2]. In addition to open-pollinated flowers, the plant also has cleistogamous flowers - these do not open but produce seed by means of self-fertilization.

Propagation

Seed - sow spring or autumn in situ and only just cover. Germination should take place within 2 weeks. Cite as: Temperate Plants Database, Ken Fern. temperate.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <temperate.theferns.info/plant/Bromus+tectorum>

Pollinators

Wind, Cleistogamous

References

  1. [1]Illustrated Flora of North Central Texas — Diggs, Jnr. G.M.; Lipscomb. B. L. & O'Kennon. R. J · Botanical Research Institute, Texas. · 1999 · http://artemis.austincollege.edu/acad/bio/gdiggs/NCTXpdf.htm · ISBN 1-889878-01-4 ↩︎An excellent flora, which is also available on-line.
  2. [2]Invasive Species Compendium — http://www.cabi.org ↩︎An immense resource - in depth information on over 900 species of invasive plants (it also has information on animals, fungi etc).
  3. [3]Growing from Seed. Volume 3. — Bird. R. (Editor) · Thompson and Morgan. · 1989 · ISBN - ↩︎Very readable magazine with lots of information on propagation.
  4. [4]The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. — Huxley. A. · MacMillan Press · 1992 · ISBN 0-333-47494-5 ↩︎Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.
  5. [5]Flora of China — Missouri Botanical Garden Press; St. Louis. · 1994 · http://flora.huh.harvard.edu/china/ ↩︎An excellent, comprehensive resource in 25 volumes. In addition to the botanical information the flora also gives basic information on habitat and some uses. An on-line version is also available.
  6. [6]Gray's Manual of Botany.Eighth Edition — Fernald. M. L. · American Book Co.; New York · 1950 · ISBN 0442222505 ↩︎A bit dated but a good and concise flora of the eastern part of N. America.
  7. [7]Native American Ethnobotany — Moerman. D. · Timber Press. Oregon. · 1998 · ISBN 0-88192-453-9 ↩︎Very comprehensive but terse guide to the native uses of plants. Excellent bibliography, fully referenced to each plant, giving a pathway to further information. Not for the casual reader.
  8. [8]Plants for Human Consumption. — Kunkel. G. · Koeltz Scientific Books · 1984 · ISBN 3874292169 ↩︎An excellent book for the dedicated. A comprehensive listing of Latin names with a brief list of edible parts.
  9. [9]Plants and People of Nepal — Manandhar. N. P. · Timber Press. Oregon. · 2002 · ISBN 0-88192-527-6 ↩︎Excellent book, covering over 1,500 species of useful plants from Nepal together with information on the geography and peoples of Nepal. Good descriptions of the plants with terse notes on their uses.