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These are perennial rye-grass, L. perenne, and 

 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; Ugule 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-fiowered 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 3^; spikelet with 

 portion of rachis, X3. 



