''Bromus aleutensis'', commonly known as the Aleutian brome, is a perennial grass found in North America. ''B. aleutensis'' has a diploid number of 56.

Taxonomy

It has been suggested that ''Bromus aleutensis'' may be a modified version of the similar '' Bromus sitchensis'' in which reproduction occurs at an earlier developmental state as a response to the climate of the Aleutian Islands. In addition, while ''B. aleutensis'' is mostly self-fertilizing and ''B. sitchensis'' is mostly outcrossing,

anther The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filament ...

lengths close to in some individuals of ''B. aleutensis'' suggests outcrossing.

Description

''B aleutensis'' is a perennial grass that is loosely cespitose. The decumbent culms are tall and thick. The striate and pilose leaf sheaths have dense hairs. Auricles are rarely present. The glabrous

ligule A ligule (from "strap", variant of ''lingula'', from ''lingua'' "tongue") is a thin outgrowth at the junction of leaf A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the plant stem, stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above g ...

s are long. The somewhat pilose leaf blades are long and wide. The open

panicle In botany, a panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a p ...

s are long. Lower branches of the inflorescence are long and number one to two per node, with two to three spikelets on their distal half. The elliptic to lanceolate spikelets are long, with three to six florets. The

glume In botany, a glume is a bract (leaf-like structure) below a spikelet in the inflorescence (flower cluster) of grass Poaceae ( ), also called Gramineae ( ), is a large and nearly ubiquitous family (biology), family of monocotyledonous flow ...

s are glabrous or pubescent, with the three- to five-veined lower glumes being and the seven- to nine-veined upper glumes being . The lanceolate lemmas are and are laterally compressed and softly pubescent. The lemmas have nine to eleven veins, with the veins being especially conspicuous distally. The awns are and the anthers are .

Habitat and distribution

''Bromus aleutensis'' grows in sand, gravel, and disturbed soil in the Pacific coast, particularly from the

Aleutian Islands The Aleutian Islands ( ; ; , "land of the Aleuts"; possibly from the Chukchi language, Chukchi ''aliat'', or "island")—also called the Aleut Islands, Aleutic Islands, or, before Alaska Purchase, 1867, the Catherine Archipelago—are a chain ...

(as its specific epithet indicates) to western Washington, though it has been found farther east in lake shores or road edges of Canada and Idaho.

Ecology

''Bromus aleutensis'' is infected by ''Fusarium nivale'' and ''Hendersonia culmicola''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15296943 aleutensis Grasses of the United States Grasses of Canada Plants described in 1854