SLELO PRISM

Impacts:

Slender false brome can outcompete existing vegetation including threatened and endangered species and prevent tree seedling establishment. Loss in native vegetation can harm populations of mammals, insects, lizards, snakes, and songbirds by altering food sources.

Habitat/Distribution:

Slender false brome can tolerate a wide range of habitats especially competitive in shady or drought-stricken areas; it is self-fertilizing and can produce hundreds of seeds per plant. 

Due to its similarity to other grasses, slender false brome has likely gone undetected and misidentified in Western and Central New York for years. As of December 2016, slender false brome has been located in just a few locations in New York, the Bergen Swamp in Genesee County, several areas near Ithaca in Tompkins County, a site in Onondaga County, and one site in Dutchess County near Wappingers Falls. However, it has exhibited explosive spread and aggressive population expansion in portions of New York state and poses a threat to biodiversity in botanically unique areas such as the Bergen Swamp.  The grass is also found in high-use areas such as along trails in Taughannock Falls State Park, making containment difficult ⁽¹⁾.

Identification: 

Slender false brome can go undetected and may be difficult to identify as there are many other types of grass that appear similar. Slender false brome can be distinguished from other grasses by its bunching, arching leaves that grow in clumps. Leaf color is bright lime-green throughout the growing season and into the late fall. 

• Leaf blades are flat and lax (floppy), 1/4 to 1/3 inch wide, and distinctively bright green.
• When held up to the sky, a fringe of fine hairs is easily seen around the edge of the leaf.
• The leaf sheath (the base of the leaf that surrounds the stem or culm of the grass) is open and freely releases the stem when pulled back.
• The lower stem is thickly covered with fine, even hairs
• Young plants look somewhat like a many-legged spider spread out over the ground.
• Mature plants have a graceful, nodding form (both leaves and flowers).
• Mature stands form solid mats of plants 12 to 18 inches high.
• Flower spikelets droop and have very short or no stalks.