32 FARM WEEDS OF CANADA 



COMMON DARNEL (Lolium iemulentum L.) 



Other English names : Poison Darnel, White Darnel, 

 Ivray, Poison Rye Grass, Bearded Darnel. 



Other Latin name: Lolium arvense With. 



Introduced from Europe. Annual, smooth, stems 2 to 4 

 feet high, simple. Leaves smooth beneath, rough above, the 

 portion embracing the stem is purple when the plant is young. 

 Spike 6 to 10 inches long; somewhat resembling that of Couch 

 Grass, but having the edges of the spikelets resting against 

 the stalk instead of the broadsides, as in Couch Grass. Spike- 

 lets 3 to 7-flowered, solitary, stalkless and alternate, with their 

 edges fitting tightly into grooves on either side of the stalk; 

 each spikelet in the axil of a long, rigid, strongly-nerved, per- 

 sistent empty scale, which nearly equals or is sometimes much 

 longer than the spikelets. 



The seed, somewhat swollen, resembles small barley, with 

 blunt ends and a shallow wide groove on the inner surface. 

 The inner scale is minutely bristly on the edges but not coarsely 

 bristly along the margins, as in Chess; the outer scale is hard 

 and flinty, as in the chaff of wheat, and either with or without 

 a long awn. The footstalk of the grain above on the spikelet 

 is long, flat, smooth, straight-cut on the top. The kernel, after 

 the husks have been removed, is greenish-brown, often tinged 

 with deep purple. Darnel seeds are found in western wheat. 



Time of flowering: July; seeds ripe in August. 



Propagation: By seeds. 



Occurrence : Abundant in parts of the Red River Valley, 

 Manitoba, and occasional throughout the Prairie Provinces. 

 Most common in moist land. 



Injury: The scales cover the seed very tightly, the inner 

 one being adherent to it; in that condition it is nearly the same 

 size and weight as small grains of wheat and is exceedingly 

 difficult to separate by machinery. Darnel has become a 



