Brome-grass — Chambers's Encyclopaedia

A detailed botanical line drawing of Bromus (Brome-grass). The illustration shows several long, slender, and slightly curved blades of grass. At the top of the blades, there are clusters of small, drooping flower heads (spikes). The drawing is executed in a fine-lined, sketch-like style, capturing the texture and form of the plant. — Brome-grass.

Brome-grass (Bromus; Gr. bromos, 'a kind of oat'), a genus of grasses, very nearly allied to Fescue (q.v.). The species are numerous, and some of them are very common British grasses—none more so than the Soft Brome (B. mollis), an annual or biennial, which has very soft downy leaves, grows well on poor soils, and is readily eaten by cattle, but is not much esteemed by farmers, either for the quantity or quality of fodder which it yields. The seeds of some species are unwholesome. B. secalinus (rye brome-grass) is a troublesome weed, especially in rye-fields, whence the legends of the transmutations of rye into brome through supernatural agencies. See GRASSES, and PASTURE.