Stats

Lifespan

Annual

Size

Small

Diet

Photosynthetic

Biome

Temperate grassland

Range

Eurasia

Movement

Sessile

Breeding

Seeds

Defense

Spines

Status

Common

About

An invasive annual grass from Eurasia that carpets Western rangelands each spring, then dries to a fine tan tinder by early summer that dramatically shortens wildfire return intervals. Its barbed seeds cling to fur and socks, hitching rides far from where they sprouted.

Life cycle

1. 1.
   seed

   A dormant seed waits for water and warmth before germinating.
2. 2.
   sprout

   A first shoot emerges with cotyledon leaves and a tap root reaching down.
3. 3.
   sapling

   A young plant grows true leaves and a stem or trunk, putting on height each season.
4. 4.
   mature

   Fully grown, flowering or fruiting at adult size.

Learn more

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Taxonomy

Kingdom

Plantae

Phylum

Tracheophyta

Class

Liliopsida

Order

Poales

Family

Poaceae

Genus

Bromus

Species

Bromus tectorum