HORDED 



237 

 and 



These are perennial rye-grass, L. perenne, 

 Italian rye-grass, L. multiflorum (L. italicum). 



Lolium perenne L. Perennial rye-grass. Perennial; 

 culms tufted, erect, smooth, 1 to 2 feet high; sheaths 

 smooth; ligule a short membrane, less than 1 mm. long; 

 blades flat, narrow, mostly less than 4 mm. wide, smooth, 

 or scabrous above, the base extended on each side into an 

 auricle; spike slender, as much as a foot long; spikelets 

 usually 8- to 10-flowered somewhat longer than the 5 to 

 8 mm. long glume, the lemmas awnless. 



Lolium multiflorum Lam. (L. italicum A. Br.). (Fig. 

 57.) Differs from the preceding in having awned lemmas 

 and usually a greater number of florets to the spikelet. 

 This species is now common in grass land and waste 

 places on the Pacific coast, where it is sometimes called 

 Australian rye-grass. These species 

 are both used in lawn mixtures in the 

 East. The young plants resemble 

 blue-grass but may be distinguished 

 by the darker green color, the usually 

 larger size and especially by the glossy 

 surface of the blades, and by the 

 absence of the boat-shaped tip. The 

 auricles are characteristic when the 

 shoots are sufficiently developed. 



Lolium temulentum L. Darnel. 

 An annual with glumes as much as 

 an inch long, longer than the 5- to 

 7-flowered spikelets: Introduced from 

 Europe. Not common, but of interest 

 because of the presence in the fruit of 

 a narcotic poison said to be due to a 

 fungus. This plant is said to be the 

 one referred to in scripture in the 

 parable of the tares (Henslow, "Plants of the Bible," p. 119). 



262. Agropyron Gcertn. Wheat-grass. A genus of 

 about 50 species of the temperate regions. Spikelets 

 several-flowered, 1 at each node of the rachis. Distin- 



FIG. 57. Lolium multiflorum. 

 Inflorescence, X M; spikelet with 

 portion of rachis, X3. 



