BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Bromus ciliatus | Fringed Brome 



GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS : 
Fringed brome is a nonrhizomatous, native perennial that is generally
tufted [21,24,27].  Culms are slender, usually 1.7 to 4 feet (0.5-1.2 m)
tall, but up to 5.2 feet (1.6 m) tall in the Great Plains [24,59].  The
blades are flat, 0.12 to 0.6 inch (3-15 mm) wide and 6 to 10 inches
(15-25 cm) long [25,59].  The panicle is narrowly elongate, 2.8 to 7.2
inches (7-18 cm) long with branches ascending to drooping [24,46].
Fringed brome has a well-developed root system [25].  
  


RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM : 
   Hemicryptophyte


REGENERATION PROCESSES : 
Fringed brome reproduces exclusively from seed [25].  Seeds are
nondormant and can show high germination rates.  Tests were conducted by
Hoffman [30] on herbaceous plants common in aspen understories of
Colorado.  Fringed brome exhibited a wide range of germination capacity.
Tests were conducted with light and dark regimes, with or without
stratification, and with a variety of thermoperiods.  In 9 tests out of
14, fringed brome had 100 percent germination.  The lowest germination
rate recorded was 60 percent in a test in which light followed
stratification [30].

Fringed brome is wind pollinated [25].  


SITE CHARACTERISTICS : 
Fringed brome occurs in a variety of habitats including woodlands,
forest openings, thickets, grasslands, shrublands, prairies, meadows,
marshes, bogs, fens, and stream and lake margins [24,31,40,48,51,].  It
is commonly found in moist places such as wet meadows, benches, and
along streams [46,58].  Fringed brome also occurs on moist to seasonally
dry, open or densely shaded habitats in valleys and montane zones
[20,36].

Fringed brome grows best on moist to semiwet soils, but is tolerant of
poorly drained and subirrigated conditions [13,40,54].  It grows best on
loam, silty loam, and sand, but occurs on stony or bouldery substrates
as well [13,15,39,59].  Soil pH ranges from 4.8 to 7.9 in Yellowstone
National Park [40].

Elevations for fringed brome for several states and provinces are as
follows:  

       Arizona           6,000-11,000 feet     (1,800-3,300 m) [7,43]
       California        3,630-10,560 feet     (1,100-3,200 m) [27]
       Colorado          6,000-11,000 feet     (2,700-3,350 m) [15,26] 
       Michigan          600-750 feet          (180-225 m) [33]
       New Mexico        7,500-12,000 feet     (2,285-3,600 m) [17,43]
       New York          1,486-2,800 feet      (445-840 m) [35]
       Utah              5,015-11,580 feet     (1,520-3,510 m) [59]
       Wyoming           7,900 feet            (2,400 m) [6]
       Ontario           1,551 feet            (470 m) [54]
       Yukon Territory   2,440 feet            (740 m) [52]      


SUCCESSIONAL STATUS : 
Facultative Seral Species

Fringed brome occurs in seral and climax communities.  It is shade
tolerant, but also grows in some open habitats [35,36,40].  It is a
facultative wetland species in Montana [10].  The aspen/fringed brome
community type is successional to coniferous climax types in subalpine
forests of Utah [47].  After major disturbances on Douglas-fir/fringed
brome habitat type sites of New Mexico and Arizona, fringed brome
quickly dominates the understory under aspen [1].  In heavily shaded
microsites in white fir/screwleaf muhly (Muhlenbergia virescens) habitat
types, fringed brome may become the dominant understory species [20].
In the Rocky Mountains of New Mexico, fringed brome is found in
old-growth, intermediate-aged, and young-growth forests [17].


SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT : 
Fringed brome flowers from July to August in California, the Upper Great
Plains, and New York [24,35,46].  It flowers in August in Tennessee,
North Carolina, and West Virginia [49].  In Utah, fringed brome flowers
in August and September [3].  It flowers from July to October in Arizona
[32].  

Related categories for Species: Bromus ciliatus | Fringed Brome