272 MISC. PUBLICATION 200, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



5 to 7 mm long, awnless or nearly so. 01 Meadows and waste 

 places, Newfoundland to Alaska and south to Virginia and California, 

 occasionally farther south; cultivated in meadows, pastures, and 

 lawns, introduced from Europe. Also called English ryegrass. 

 LOLIUM PERENNE var. CRisT^TUM Pers. Spikes ovate, the spikelets 

 crowded, horizontally spreading. 2J. Open ground, Wilmington, 

 Del., and Washington, D. C.; ballast, Salem and Eola, 

 Oreg. ; adventive from Europe. 



Lolium strictum Presl. Annual; branched and 

 spreading at base, 10 to 30 cm tall; spike thickish, 5 

 to 10 cm long, the rachis thick but flattish and angled. 

 O Introduced at Berkeley, Calif.; Europe. Re- 

 sembles L. subulatum but the spikelets not sunken in 

 a cylindric rachis. 



2. Lolium multiflorum Lam. ITALIAN RYEGRASS. 

 (Fig. 534, A.) Differing from L. perenne in the more 

 robust habit, larger spikelets, and awned lemmas; 

 spikelets 10- to 20-flowered, 1.5 to 2.5 cm long; lemmas 

 7 to 8 mm long, at least the upper awned. 91 (L. 

 italicum A. Br.) About the same range as L. perenne, 

 especially common on the Pacific coast where it is often 

 called Australian ryegrass. Introduced from Europe. 

 Scarcely more than a variety of L. perenne but general- 

 ly recognized as distinct agriculturally. A much 

 reduced form has been called forma microstachyum 

 Uechtritz. California. 



Lolium rigidum Gaudin. Annual; foliage blue-green; 

 spikes rather stiff; otherwise like L. multiflorum. o 

 Wheat fields, North Dakota (Milton, Calio); Europe. 



3. Lolium temulentum L. DARNEL. (Fig. 535, A.) Annual; 

 culms 60 to 90 cm tall; blades mostly 3 to 6 mm wide; spike strict, 

 15 to 20 cm long; glume about 2.5 cm long, as long as or longer than 

 the 5- to 7-flowered spikelet, firm, pointed; florets plump, the lemmas 

 as much as 8 mm long, obtuse, awned, the awn as much as 8 mm long. 

 O Grainfields and waste places, occasional throughout the eastern 

 United States and rather common on the Pa- 

 cific coast (fig. 536) ; introduced from Europe. 



LOLIUM TEMULENTUM Var. LEPTOCHAETON A. 



Br. Lemmas awnless. o Washington to 

 California, occasional on the Atlantic coast, 

 Maine to Texas; introduced from Europe. 



4. Lolium subulatum Vis. (Fig. 535, B.) 

 Annual; culms freely branching at base, stiffly 

 spreading or prostrate; foliage scant, blades 



short; spike subcylindric, rigid, often curved; spikelets sunken in 

 the excavations of the rachis, the florets partly hidden by the ap- 

 pressed obtuse strongly nerved glume; lemmas 5 mm long, o 

 On ballast, near Portland, Oreg. ; introduced from Europe. 



FIGURE 535. A, 

 Lolium temulen- 

 tum, X H (Lei- 

 berg 771, Oreg.) 

 B, L, subulatum, 

 X fc. (Sheldon, 

 Oreg.) 



Nardus stricta L. Slender tufted perennial; sheaths crowded at 

 the base of the plant; blades slender, involute, rather stiff; spike 

 slender, 1 -sided, 3 to 8 cm long; spikelets 1 -flowered; first glume 



