Scientific Name

Bromus tectorum L. (Synonyms: Anisantha tectorum)

Common Name(s)

Cheatgrass, downy brome, downy bromegrass, downy chess, early chess

Tribe / Family Name

Bromeae

Flowering Period

April to July

Symbol

BRTE

Description

Cheatgrass is an introduced cool-season winter annual bunchgrass that reproduces from seeds and has a shallow, fibrous root system. Culms range from 5–90 cm in height with soft or short hairs throughout the plant. Its inflorescence is an open, nodding to drooping panicle 5–20 cm long, often densely branched, and green when immature, but becoming purplish to reddish as it matures. Spikelets are 10–20 mm long (excluding awns), moderately laterally compressed, 4- to 8-flowered, and awned (awns 10–18 mm long, straight, and attached just below the lemma tips). Ligules are up to 3 mm long, membranous, acute or obtuse, and erose to lacerate. 

General Info

Cheatgrass can be found on disturbed sites such as overgrazed rangelands, roadsides, fields, waste places, and disturbed or recently burned sites.

Similar Species

Cheatgrass can look similar to other bromes, such as ripgut brome (Bromus diandrus) and Japanese brome (Bromus japonicus). Like cheatgrass, both species have seed heads that appear to be nodding to drooping, and have long awns. However, unlike cheatgrass and ripgut brome, Japanese brome has awns that are strongly divergent and twisted at maturity.

Similar Species Links