After several decades in cultivation, the interrupted brome was re-introduced to Aston Rowant National Nature Reserve in 2004, marking the first known re-introduction of an extinct plant in Britain.

The plant was a weed of waste places and arable agriculture, particularly of sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia) cultivation.

It is thought to have gone into decline with the replacement of horses by motor vehicles from the late 19th century onwards, reducing the demand for sainfoin as fodder, and additionally by improved seed cleaning methods.

The green leaves measure 6 to 20 cm long by 2 to 6 mm wide and are long-linear in shape with a pointed apex.

The upper one is slightly larger, measuring 6 to 9 mm long with 5 to 9 veins and an ovate to broadly elliptical shape.

The paleas, the upper of the two husks that enclose a flower, are narrowly elliptical in outline and are shorter than the lemmas.

[4] The interrupted brome is endemic to south–central and south-eastern England and was formerly found from southern Lincolnshire south to eastern Kent and northern Somerset.

Its demise is thought to have been due to improved seed cleaning methods, which effectively eradicated the species as a weed of crops.

[3] The plant was found primarily in waste places and as a weed in arable crops, particularly sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia), rye grass (Lolium perenne) and clover (Trifolium sp.).

[6] Stewart Henchie, a botanist from Kew Gardens, began a project to re-introduce the interrupted brome into the wild.

Under his leadership, Kew Gardens and Paignton Zoo grew large quantities of the plants to procure seeds for an eventual re-introduction.