Scientific Family
Poaceae
Synonyms
Anisantha rubens, Bromus madritensis ssp. rubens
Other common names
foxtail brome
foxtail chess
Plant type
Grasses
Riparian
No
Grass Description
Origin
Introduced
Season
Cool
Open dry often disturbed ground, waste places, fields, and rocky slopes
Plant Community
Disturbed Areas
Desert Scrub
Low elevation
2000
High elevation
4000
General Description
Annual, tufted bunchgrass, usually 8 to 20 inches tall but often less when growing on arid, shallow-soil sites. The several to numerous stems spread from the base of the plant.
Annual grass with erect to ascending, often soft hairy stems below the seedhead, 4 to 16 inches tall, reddish-purple; seedhead dense, contracted; spikelets long-awned, awns straight; lemmas narrow and pointed.
Grass type
Annual
Rhizomes
No
Stolons
No
Clump Diameter 2 ft or more
No
Bushy - highly branched
No
Height with Seedheads
Less than 12 inches
Seedhead Structure
Branched - contracted
Seedhead droops
No
First bloom month
March
Last bloom month
June
Flower Characteristics
Flowers per Spikelet
Multi-flowered
Spikelets One-Sided
No
Awns
1/4 inch to 1 inch
Three Awns
No
Awns bent
No
Flower and Seedhead Notes
Seedheads 3/4 to 3 inches long, 3/4 to 2 inches wide, dense, borne erect on the ends of unbranched stems, with a kind of bottle-brush appearance. As seedheads mature they become reddish-brown to purplish. Spikelets 4 to 11 flowered.
Vegetative Characteristics
Blade is hairy
Yes
Blade margins white
No
Blade cross-section
Flat
Blades to 6 inches long, 1/32 to 1/4 inch wide, flat, clothed with soft hairs or down on both surfaces.
Sheath is hairy
Yes
Tufts of hair top of sheath or collar
No
Ligule
Membranous
Auricles
No
Poor, extremely short period of palatability.