Plants annual. Culms 34-70 cm, erect or ascending, glabrous or puberulent below the panicle. Sheaths densely short-pubescent or glabrous; auricles absent; ligules 1.5-2 mm, glabrous, obtuse, erose; blades 4-20 cm long, 1-5 mm wide, flat, both surfaces pubescent or glabrous. Panicles 3-15 cm long, 2-6 cm wide, open, erect; branches (at least some) 1-3+ cm, ascending to spreading, never drooping, usually visible, with 1 or 2 spikelets. Spikelets 30-50 mm, longer than the panicle branches, not densely crowded, with parallel sides or widening distally, moderately laterally compressed, with 6-10 florets. Glumes pilose, margins hyaline; lower glumes 5-10 mm, 1-veined; upper glumes 10-15 mm, 3-veined; lemmas 12-20 mm, linear-lanceolate, often arcuate, pubescent, with longer hairs near the margins, 5-7-veined, rounded over the midvein, margins hyaline, apices acuminate, teeth 1.5-3 mm; awns 12-23 mm, straight or arcuate, arising 1.5 mm or more below the lemma apices; anthers 0.5-1 mm. 2n = 28.

Bromus madritensis is native to southern and western Europe. It is now established in North America, and grows in disturbed soil, waste places, banks, and road verges in southern Oregon, California, and Arizona.

FNA 2007, Jepson Herbaria-Berkeley, Ann. Checklist GCNP 1987

Common Name: compact brome Duration: Annual Nativity: Non-Native Lifeform: Graminoid General: Introduced annual solitary or clumped 30-70 cm tall; spikelets have long awns and can be purplish. Vegetative: Culms 30-70 cm tall, erect or ascending; leaves 4-20 cm long, 1-5 cm wide, pubescent or glabrous, 2-ranked, flat; sheaths generally open, short-pubescent or glabrous; ligules 1-2 mm, glabrous. Ecology: Found in disturbed soils; flowers May-August. Distribution: Found in Arizona, Nevada, California, Oregon, Mississippi, Illilois, Michigan, Virginia, and Maryland. Notes: Native to Europe, but now is widely distributed. Does well in dry conditions. Ethnobotany: Unknown Etymology: Bromus is from Greek bromo, for stinking, while madritensis means from Madrid, Spain. Synonyms: Many, see Tropicos Editor: LKearsley, 2012