Bromus catharticus is a species of brome grass known by the common names rescue grass (America), prairie grass (New Zealand), and Schrader's bromegrass in English, and cebadilla criolla and cebadilla in Spanish.
It is the most common and most well-known of several species in the Bromus catharticus complex within the Bromus section Ceratochloa, all of which are hexaploids with the chromosome count 2n=42.
It is native to South America but it can be found in other places, including Europe, Australia and North America, as an introduced species.
Description
Bromus catharticus is a coarse winter annual or biennial grass, growing 0.2–1 m (7.9 in – 3 ft 3.4 in) in height. The culms of the grass are glabrous and 2–4 mm (0.079–0.157 in) thick. The sheaths are densely hairy. The grass lacks auricles and the glabrous ligule is 1–4 mm (0.039–0.157 in) long. The leaf blades are 4–30 cm (1.6–11.8 in) long and 3–10 mm (0.12–0.39 in) wide and are glabrous or pubescent. The erect or nodding panicles are 9–28 cm (3.5–11.0 in) long. The upper spikelets are erect and the lower spikelets are nodding or drooping. Each flat and pointed spikelet is 20–40 mm (0.79–1.57 in) long and has four to twelve florets. The glumes are smooth or occasionally slightly scabrous. The lower glume is fie to seven-veined and 7–12 mm (0.28–0.47 in) long, and the upper glume is seven to nine-veined and 9–17 mm (0.35–0.67 in) long. The lemmas are scabrous or nearly glabrous and lack awns or possess very short awns 2 mm (0.079 in) in length. The lemmas are 11–20 mm (0.43–0.79 in) long. The palea is over half the length of the lemma. The anthers are 0.5–5 mm (0.020–0.197 in) long.
Bromus catharticus is part of Bromus section Ceratochloa, which are separated from other Bromus sections by their strongly keeled (folded, like the keel of a...
