30 TRIANDRIA DIGYNIA. 



Anglesey it is manufactured into door-mats. It also 

 makes excellent floor-brushes. In the Outer Hebrides it 

 serves many purposes in rural and domestic economy, 

 being made into ropes for various uses, mats for pack- 

 saddles, bags, mats, and vessels for preparing and keeping 

 grain and meal ; and, lastly, into hats. Edin. Phil. Journ. 

 vi. 155. 



39. LOLIUM. 



1. L. perenne, corolla very slightly awned ; spikelets longer 

 than the calyx ; florets lanceolate. (Smooth ;* stem 1 foot high, 

 bent at the base.) Rye-grass, 



Hab. Meadows and pastures. June. 1J. 



Generally sown with clovers, and the chief grass which en- 

 ters into the composition of hay. It is not very lasting, 

 except on a rich soil ; and many intelligent cultivators 

 consider it a very severe crop, and allege that wheat does 

 not succeed well after the herbage with which it is inter- 

 mixed in any considerable quantity. 



2. L. temulentum^ awns longer than the corolla; spikelets 

 shorter than the calyx; florets elliptical; stem rough in the 

 upper part, 2 feet high, erect. Bearded Darnel. 



Hal. Corn fields, very rare. Near Shoreswood Hall, Dr 

 Thompson. July. Q 



The seeds of this species possess deleterious properties when 

 mixed with bread, corn or malt ; and malignant epidemic 

 fevers have been attributed to their operation. In this 

 country it is so rare that it can seldom be productive of 

 any mischief, but it is asserted to have been cultivated 

 in the vicinity of London for the use of the brewer, who 

 communicates to the beer an intoxicating quality by its 

 means. It is the " infelix lolium " of VIRGIL : 



-" interque nitentia culta 

 Infelix lolium et steriles dominantur avenae. 



3. L. arvense^ corolla slightly awned ; spikelets as long as the 

 calyx ; florets elliptical ; stem very smooth. Short-awned Darnel . 



Hab. Corn fields at Easington, rare. July. 



