Index of Species Information
SPECIES: Bromus inermis subsp. pumpellianus
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| Pumpelly's brome. Wikimedia Commons image By Pellaea. |
Introductory
SPECIES: Bromus inermis subsp. pumpellianus
AUTHORSHIP AND CITATION:
Walsh, Roberta A. 1994. Bromus inermis subsp. pumpellianus.
In: Fire Effects Information System, [Online]. U.S. Department of
Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station,
Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer). Available:
https://www.fs.usda.gov/database/feis/plants/graminoid/broinep/all.html [].
Revisions:
The taxonomy section of this review was revised on 12 September 2018.
Images were also added.
ABBREVIATION:
BROINEP
BROINEPP
BROINEPA
SYNONYMS:
For Pumpelly's brome:
Bromus pumpellianus Scribn. [14,17,31,34]
Bromus pumpellianus Scribn. subsp. dicksonii Mitchell & Wilton (a tetraploid) [3]
Bromopsis inermis (Leyss.) Holub subsp. pumpelliana (Scribn.) W.A. Weber
(cited in [29])
For arctic brome:
Bromus pumpellianus Scribn. var. arcticus (Shear) Pors. [7,17]
Bromus pumpellianus Scribn. var. villosissimus Hult. [17]
NRCS PLANT CODE:
BRINP5
BRINP5
BRINA
COMMON NAMES:
Pumpelly's brome
Pumpelly brome
Rocky Mountain brome
arctic brome
TAXONOMY:
The scientific name of Pumpelly's brome is Bromus inermis Leyss. subsp.
pumpellianus (Scribn.) Wagnon (Poaceae) [2,16,22,29,]. There are two
subspecies of this entity:
Bromus inermis Leyss. subsp. pumpellianus (Scribn.) Wagnon var. pumpellianus
(Scribn.) C.L. Hitchc. [29], Pumpelly's brome
Bromus inermis Leyss. subsp. pumpellianus (Scribn.) Wagnon var. arcticus
(Shear ex Scribn. & Merr.) Wagnon [29], arctic brome
Pumpelly's brome hybridizes readily with other subspecies of Bromus inermis
[14,16,17]. FEIS provides a separate review of other subspecies of
Bromus inermis (smooth brome).
In this review, "Pumpelly's brome" refers to both varieties
(Bromus inermis subsp. pumpellianus var. pumpellianus and
Bromus inermis subsp. pumpellianus var. arcticus).
LIFE FORM:
Graminoid
FEDERAL LEGAL STATUS:
No special status
OTHER STATUS:
NO-ENTRY
DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Bromus inermis subsp. pumpellianus
GENERAL DISTRIBUTION:
Pumpelly's brome occurs from Alaska and northern Canada south through
the Rocky Mountains to New Mexico and east to central Washington and
Oregon [1,14,15,16,29]. There are disjunct populations in southern
Ontario and in Michigan at the northern end of Lake Michigan [16,29,31].
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Distributions of Bromus inermis subsp. pumpellianus var. pumpellianus(left) and Bromus inermis subsp. pumpellianus var. arcticus (right). Maps courtesy of USDA, NRCS. 2018. The PLANTS Database.
National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC. [2018, September 12] [29]. |
ECOSYSTEMS:
FRES18 Maple - beech - birch
FRES20 Douglas-fir
FRES21 Ponderosa pine
FRES23 Fir - spruce
FRES29 Sagebrush
FRES36 Mountain grasslands
FRES37 Mountain meadows
FRES44 Alpine
STATES AND PROVICES:
AK CO ID KS MI MT NM OH OR WA WI WY
AB BC MB NF NB NT NS NU ON PE QC SK YT
BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS:
8 Northern Rocky Mountains
9 Middle Rocky Mountains
10 Wyoming Basin
11 Southern Rocky Mountains
15 Black Hills Uplift
KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS:
K012 Douglas-fir forest
K015 Western spruce - fir forest
K017 Black Hills pine forest
K050 Fescue - wheatgrass
K051 Wheatgrass - bluegrass
K052 Alpine meadows and barren
K055 Sagebrush steppe
K106 Northern hardwoods
SAF COVER TYPES:
25 Sugar maple - beech - yellow birch
201 White spruce
202 White spruce - paper birch
210 Interior Douglas-fir
237 Interior ponderosa pine
251 White spruce - aspen
HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES:
Pumpelly's brome is listed as a stand type in the following published
description of plant communities:
Steppe vegetation on south-facing slopes of pingos, central arctic
Coastal Plain, Alaska, U.S.A. [32]
Species associated with Pumpelly's brome are listed for arctic alluvial
fan tundra in the central Brooks Range of Alaska [8], for steppe
communities on bluffs within the boreal forest of east-central Alaska
[10], and for forest vegetation in young, mixed stands in uplands near
Fairbanks, Alaska [33]. Associates are listed for the northwestern
Northwest Territories on the coast of Amundsen Gulf [7] and on the
MacKenzie River Delta [6]. Associates are also listed for relatively
undisturbed mountain grasslands in Wyoming [28], for an undisturbed dry
butte site in southeastern Montana [25], and for a prairie in
northwestern Montana that reflects past agricultural use and the present
effects of grazing disturbance [20].
MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS
SPECIES: Bromus inermis subsp. pumpellianus
IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE:
The native perennial species of brome (Bromus spp.) form a considerable
portion of the forage in open woods of the mountain regions of the
western United States. Pumpelly's brome is abundant, good forage for all
classes of livestock [15].
Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep in Jasper National Park, Alberta, ate
Pumpelly's brome during July and early August 1968-70. However, its
utilization was less than its availability. Though available, it was
not recorded as being utilized in Waterton Lakes or Banff national parks
[26].
Pumpelly's brome has been crossed with smooth brome to produce the
cultivar "Polar" bromegrass. It is a long-lived and productive forage
crop in south-central Alaska [18].
PALATABILITY:
NO-ENTRY
NUTRITIONAL VALUE:
Pumpelly's brome had a higher mean Nutritive Value Index for five tested
stages of growth than did any of the other 20 native and cultivated
grasses studied at Lethbridge, Alberta. Pumpelly's brome had 12.7 percent
protein in the leaf stage of growth. Protein, phosphorus, and carotene
decreased with advancing maturity; calcium and crude fiber increased [5].
Pumpelly's brome, native to the Matanuska Valley near Palmer, Alaska, was
1 of 17 indigenous and introduced grass species evaluated for forage
yield and quality in that area . It was grown over a 3-year period, and
harvested twice each year. Of the two Pumpelly's brome accessions, one
ranked fourteenth out of 38 accessions in 3-year average yield; the
other was not as successful. Pumpelly's brome had good nutritional
quality, with sufficient percentages of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium,
calcium, and magnesium to produce moderate gain on a growing 440-pound
(200-kg) steer [23].
COVER VALUE:
NO-ENTRY
VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES:
Pumpelly's brome was evaluated for revegetation potential in the
Richardson Mountains of the northeastern Yukon Territory. Seeding was
done June 7, 1979. Seedling emergence was 96.7 percent in that year.
In 1980 survival was 63.3 percent, in 1981 it was 40.0 percent, and by
1985 there were no surviving plants. There was no seed production by
Pumpelly's brome in any year. The Pumpelly's brome selection was a northern
type, but it was apparently not adapted for survival at this severe
northern Yukon site [30].
Pumpelly's brome did not establish on scarified Pumpelly's tundra sites of a
construction-disturbed alluvial fan in the central Brooks Range. Some
sites were planted with grasses (other than Pumpelly's brome) and others
were not; 4 and 11 years after treatments Pumpelly's brome occurred only
on undisturbed control plots [8].
OTHER USES AND VALUES:
NO-ENTRY
OTHER MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS:
In Wyoming Pumpelly's brome decreases with grazing pressure [28].
Pumpelly's brome seed should be planted at shallow depth. It grows best
on moderately moist soil [12].
At the Matanuska Research Farm in south-central Alaska, Pumpelly's brome
planted May 24, 1984, and harvested in 1984, 1985, and 1986, produced a
3-year total of 7.69 tons of forage per acre. Seeding rate was 22
pounds per acre; commercial fertilizer was applied. Pumpelly's brome
compared favorably with 29 other strains of grasses tested for forage
production. It also showed excellent winter survival and spring vigor [19].
BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Bromus inermis subsp. pumpellianus
GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS:
Pumpelly's brome is a native, perennial graminoid [15]. Culms are 20 to
47 inches (50 to 120 cm) tall [1,15]. Leaves are 0.16 to 0.39 inches
(4-10 mm) wide [1,17] and 4 to 8 inches (10-20 cm) long [1]. There are
generally two to four culm leaves [16]. The inflorescence is a narrow
panicle 2 to 8 inches (5-20 cm) long [14,15,16]. Spikelets are seven to
eleven flowered [1,15]. The lemma is 0.39 to 0.47 inches (10-12 mm)
long [14] and is generally short-awned [1,17]. The fruit is a caryopsis
[12]. Pumpelly's brome has well-developed creeping rhizomes [15,16] and
forms colonies [16].
RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM:
Hemicryptophyte
Geophyte
REGENERATION PROCESSES:
Pumpelly's brome sprouts from perennating buds at the base of the culms
[16] and from rhizomes [15]. It also reproduces by seed [17].
SITE CHARACTERISTICS:
Pumpelly's brome occurs on moist to dry sites. It is found in woods [9],
meadows, and on grassy slopes [14,15]. In interior Alaska it occurs on
warm, dry sites on steep, south-facing slopes in young mixed hardwood
and white spruce (Picea glauca) stands [33]. In Michigan it grows on
sandy shores and dunes at the northern edge of Lake Michigan [31]. In
western Montana it occurs in moist montane or subalpine meadows [20,22].
In Colorado it is found on dry rocky slopes [14].
Pumpelly's brome grows on a variety of soil types. It occurs on gravelly
sandy clay loam on arctic alluvial fan tundra in the central Brooks
Range [8]. It is found on rocky, shallow, poorly developed soil on
bluffs in the upper Yukon valley in east-central Alaska [10]. It occurs
on deep, well-drained mineral loess soils that are rich in organics and
are underlain by permafrost on pingos near Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. Pingo
permafrost thaws more deeply in summer than that of surrounding land
[32]. Pumpelly's brome grows on marine deltas and eroding sandy seashores
of Amundsen Gulf [7]. It occurs on shallow, well-drained sandy loam
soil on a wind-disturbed butte top in southeastern Montana [25] and on
sandy loam on the Palliser winter range in Banff National Park, Alberta
[26].
Pumpelly's brome occurs on soils with pH 7.0 to 8.0 in north-central
Alaska. These soils are wind-deposited from calcareous sediments [32].
It was grown successfully on silty loam soil with pH 6.2 near Palmer,
Alaska [23].
In the Rocky Mountains Pumpelly's brome is abundant up to about 11,000
feet (3,353 m) elevation, depending on latitude and other conditions
[15]. In Banff National Park it occurs from 6,204 to 7,205 feet
(1,891-2,196 m). It was found at 3,700 feet (1,128 m) in northwestern
Montana [20]. In east-central Alaska it was recorded at 2,297 feet (700
m) elevation [10], and in the Northwest Territories it was found at sea
level [7].
SUCCESSIONAL STATUS:
Pumpelly's brome occurs on some recently disturbed sites, and is also
present in seral and undisturbed stands. Pumpelly's brome is occasionally
found in disturbed sites and on sandy banks in the Caribou Hills, near
Eskimo Lakes, and on the Arctic coast in the McKenzie River Delta region
of the northwestern Northwest Territories [6].
In the central Brooks Range, Pumpelly's brome did not appear 4 or 11 years
after disturbance on tundra alluvial fans. It was present on undisturbed
sites [8].
SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT:
In Colorado Pumpelly's brome seeds mature from August 10 to September 10
at higher elevations and somewhat earlier at lower elevations [12].
FIRE ECOLOGY
SPECIES: Bromus inermis subsp. pumpellianus
FIRE ECOLOGY OR ADAPTATIONS:
Since Pumpelly's brome can reproduce vegetatively [15,17], it probably
sprouts from rhizomes after aerial portions are burned.
FIRE REGIMES:
Find fire regime information for the plant communities in which this
species may occur by entering the species name in the FEIS home page under
"Find Fire Regimes".
POSTFIRE REGENERATION STRATEGY:
Rhizomatous herb, rhizome in soil
FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Bromus inermis subsp. pumpellianus
IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT:
Aboveground portions of Pumpelly's brome are probably killed by fire
during the growing season. However, since the rhizomes are protected
by soil, most fires probably do not harm the rhizomes.
PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE:
Pumpelly's brome likely sprouts from rhizomes after top-kill by fire.
FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS:
NO-ENTRY
REFERENCES
SPECIES: Bromus inermis subsp. pumpellianus
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