Bromus commutatus Schrad.

Kozhin, Mikhail & Sennikov, Alexander, 2022, New records in non-native vascular plants of Russian Lapland, Biodiversity Data Journal 10, pp. 78166-78166 : 78166

Bromus commutatus Schrad.

Bromus commutatus Schrad., Fl. Germ. 1: 353 (1806).

Distribution

Native distribution

Mediterranean, western Asia, Caucasus, Iran.

Secondary distribution

Fully naturalised (archeophyte) in Atlantic and Temperate Europe. Casual in Northern Europe and Northern Asia; established in North and South America, Southern Africa, Australia.

Distribution in neighbouring territories

Rare casual in southern Finland ( Hämet-Ahti 1998a), southern Karelia ( Kravchenko 2007) and North-Western European Russia ( Tzvelev 2000), most commonly found on railways or in places of discharge.

New record

Russia. Murmansk Region. Kandalaksha District. Kovda Village, collective farm 'Belomor', potato field in use of Demidov, solitary, 13.08.1953, E. Shlyakova #72 (KPABG 042581).

Pathways of introduction

Transport - Contaminant: Seed contaminant.

The species was found on fields, thus indicating its arrival with contaminated seed or planting material.

Period of introduction

USSR, after the Second World War (1945-1991).

This record is linked to the intensification of agriculture in the USSR after the war time. Its long-term survival in agricultural habitats is considered highly unlikely.

Invasion status

Historical casual occurrence. No new records, apparently extinct in the territory.

Ecology

Xerothermic meadows.

Biology

Annual. Therophyte with fibrous roots.

Notes

This record was misidentified by Shlyakova (1982) as Bromus arvensis L., but the collected specimen clearly differs from the latter species in the longer (up to 1 mm) pubescence on the leaf sheaths and the longer (5-8 mm) awns. Based on the compact racemes, the broadly angulate margin of lodicules and the larger (ca. 21 mm) spicules and (5-10 mm) lodicules, the specimen belongs to B. commutatus ( Tzvelev 2000, Tzvelev and Probatova 2019).

One more taxon in this group, B. secalinus subsp. decipiens Bomble & H.Scholz or B. commutatus subsp. decipiens (Bomble & H.Scholz) H.Scholz, was recently separated in Central and Southern Europe ( Bomble and Scholz 1999) and also reported from Sweden, Scandinavia ( Valdés and Scholz 2009). This taxon is characterised by a less distinctly angulate margin of lodicules and does not correspond to our plant; so far, it has never been reported from Russia ( Tzvelev and Probatova 2019).

The other specimens referred to B. arvensis by Shlyakova (1982) correctly belong to the species.