162 LOLIUM. [class III. ORDER 11. 



Habitat. — Open fields and heathy places. Oxfordshire and Kent. 

 Roche Abbey and other places, Yorkshire. Near North Queensferry, 

 Scotland. Doubtful if found in Ireland. 



Perennial ; flowering in July. 



This plant, which we find plentiful in the open fields about Roche 

 Abbey, is quite smooth, or thickly clothed with short rigid hairs, espe- 

 cially the spikelets and lower sheaths, and the whole plant is of a pale 

 yellow hue. This species, together with the above, according to Sin- 

 clair, may be considered the least useful of the British grasses. 



GENUS XLIX. LO'LIUM. Linn. Darnel. 



Gen. Char. Inflorescence a two-sided spike. Spikelets alternate, 

 compressed, many-flowered. Gluma a single valve. Ghimelles 

 two, nearly equal ; the outer valve awnless, or with an awn below 

 the apex. — The derivation of the name is variously given by au- 

 thors. According to Thornton, it is from Xaiov, corn, and oXoo^, 

 injury. Hooker gives the following: — "'Quasi doUum, doX*ov, 

 quod dolosum sit vel adulterimum. Fit euim e corruptis Tritici 

 ac Hordei seminibus.' The ancients, as well as the moderns, 

 attributed poisonous qualities to the L. temuhntnm ; and even 

 now it is believed in some countries, that the Wheat changes into 

 Darnel.''^ 



1. L. j)eren'ne, Linn. (Fig. 203.) perennial Darnel, or Ryc-(jrass. 

 Spikelets much longer than the gluma ; florets awnless ; root per- 

 ennial. 



English Botany, t. 315.— English Flora, vol. i. p. 173.— Lindley, 

 Synopsis, p. 295. — Hooker, British Flora, vol. i. p. 67.— Sinclair, Hort. 

 Gram. Woburn. p. 211. 



Root fibrous. Stems several, erect in the upper part, bent in the 

 lower, roundish, smooth, striated, leafy. Leaves linear, with a long 

 narrow point, smooth and shining beneath, striated and roughish on 

 the upper side. Slicaths somewhat compressed, close, smooth, striated, 

 long, especially the upper ones. Ligula short, acute. Inflorescence 

 an erect, two-ranked spike, from two to twelve inches long. Spikelets 

 compressed, many-flowered, sessile, upon the notches of the more or 

 less waved, smooth, and angular rachis. Chnna lanceolate, ribbed, 

 smooth, shorter than the spikclot. GUnnrlles two, equal : the otiter 

 valve lanceolate, keeled, with a membranous margin and point, which 

 is often more or less cloven ; inner membranous, with two lateral 

 roughish ribs. Stigmas feathery. Fruit linear. 



There are several varieties of this species, depending upon the more 

 or less luxuriant state of their growth; and sometimes, according to 

 Sinclair, it is found with the florets in a viviparous state. 



