Common Name: Soft Brome

General Information

Bromus hordeaceus is an erect, annual to biennial grass with a creeping or obliquely ascending base; it can grow 30 - 80cm tall[].
The plant is harvested from the wild for local use as a food. It is sometimes used in soil stabilization projects.
Bromus hordeaceus is a weed of crop fields, grasslands, orchards and turf where it competes with native vegetation and monopolizes resources[].

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

,

Range

Eurasia - Norway to Spain, east to the Russian Far East, northern China, India; N. Africa - Macaronesia to Egypt

Habitat

Meadows, waste places, and on dunes, shingle banks and cliffs, mainly in southern Britain[].

Properties

Weed Potential	Yes
Edibility Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Biennial
Height	0.80 m
Pollinators	Wind, Cleistogamous
Self-fertile	Yes
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

Bromus hordeaceus prefers a climate with relatively mild winters and very warm summers; however it adapts well to climatic variations. Dry Mediterranean climates are the most favourable[].
Succeeds in a sunny position in most well-drained soils[, ].
The plant produces open, wind pollinated flowers and also cleistogamous flowers - these do not open and are self-fertilized[].

Edible Uses

Seed - cooked[]. The seed can be dried, ground into a powder then mixed with water and eaten as a gruel[]. The seed is small and fiddly to utilize[].

Medicinal

None known

Agroforestry Uses:

Often grown for forage, the plant is also used for natural or human-made disturbed area erosion control and sediment creation. Examples include bare unvegetated slopes, such as brush burn areas, newly constructed roads, driveways, housing and industrial developments, gullies, drainages, ditch and channel banks, dikes, levees, dams, reservoirs, and other types of construction on sloping land[].

Other Uses

None known

Propagation

Seed - sow spring or autumn in situ and only just cover. Germination should take place within 2 weeks.
If seed is in short supply it can be surface sown in a cold frame in early spring. When large enough to handle, prick out the seedlings into individual pots and plant them out in early summer.
Division in spring. Large clumps can be planted out direct into their permanent positions whilst it is best to pot up smaller clumps and grow them on in a cold frame until they are ready to be planted out.