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Purple false brome

Brachypodium distachyon

Also called Stiff Brome, False Brome

Purple false brome
Photo: Neil Harris, University of Alberta, CC BY-SA 4.0

Purple false brome is a small, fast-cycling grass from the Mediterranean and western Asia, widely used as a research model for cereal crops. It grows easily in a sunny spot with simple, well-drained conditions.

Family
Poaceae (Grass family)
Grows as
Grass
Light
Full sun
Water
Water moderately while establishing, then let the soil dry a little between waterings.
Soil
Ordinary well-drained garden soil or a standard potting mix.
Temperature
10–25 °C; tolerates light frost once established.
How easy
Easy
Safety
Not known to be toxic
Native range
Macaronesia to India
Climate
temperate

About

Brachypodium distachyon, commonly called purple false brome or stiff brome, is a grass species native to southern Europe, northern Africa and southwestern Asia east to India. It is related to the major cereal grain species wheat, barley, oats, maize, rice, rye, sorghum, and millet. It has many qualities that make it an excellent model organism for functional genomics research in temperate grasses, cereals, and dedicated biofuel crops such as switchgrass. These attributes include small genome (~270 Mbp) diploid accessions, a series of polyploid accessions, a small physical stature, self-fertility, a short lifecycle, simple growth requirements, and an efficient transformation system. The genome of Brachypodium distachyon (diploid inbred line Bd21) has been sequenced and published in Nature in 2010.

Other Brachypodium plants

Heath false brome

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Brachypodium distachyon by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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