Soft brome (Bromus hordeaceus)

Soft brome

The soft brome (Bromus hordeaceus), a plant species from the grass family (Poaceae), can be found in many meadows, pastures and roadsides in Central Europe. It grows to a height of 10 cm to 90 cm, with an average height of around half a meter. The inflorescence is between 2 cm and 15 cm long, is paniculate and can be either upright or slightly drooping. The spikelets are comparatively thick and finely hairy. They each contain 6 to 12 flowers. They are gray-green in color and flowering usually begins in May or June at the latest. Half-ripe seeds can be harvested shortly afterwards.

Because of its downy hairs, this type of grass is also known in North America as soft cheat or soft chess. Many pet birds first have to get used to the hairs on the seeds. Some, however, permanently disdain the soft brome, because it probably feels a little furry on the tongue. However, if you mix the soft brome between other grasses and offer it again and again, you can usually achieve success in the long term and the birds will often eat it quite readily.

The half-ripe seeds can be frozen for the winter. In my experience, however, most birds are not particularly keen on eating dried, half-ripe seeds of the soft brome.

More pictures of rushes can be found on NABU-naturgucker.de (German website, but also available in English language).

German – English translation: Sarah Wiechers