?o6 DARXEi. 



able, wheat would change iato r^e, rye into barhy, barley into 

 darnel, darnel into brome-grass, brorne-grass into oats, and so 

 on : and that in favourable soils and situations these trans- 

 mutations would be reversed *. Virgil promulgates the former 

 opinion : 



" Graudia ssepe quibus mcindaviinus hordea sukis. 

 Infelix loiium, et steriles dominantur avenae^" 



EcL V. 1. 36. 

 And Plautus ; 



" Minim est loiio victitare te. tuna vUi fritico/'^ 



Miles Glor. act ii. sc Hi. I. 50. 



From Loiium perhaps originated the term LollarDj applied 

 by their enemies to the Waldenses in Germany, and the follow- 

 ers of Wickliffe in this country : to indicate that they were per- 

 nicious weeds in Christ's vineyard, choking and destroying the 

 pure wheat of the gospel. Milne thinks the expression wi^zxx 

 which occurs in the 13th chapter of St. Matthew's gospel would 

 have been better translated darnel than tares f. The French call 

 it hra'ie from ivresse, drunkenness : hence, probably the English 

 ray-grass ; in both languages, however, ivraie and ray-grass 

 are applied indiscriminately to the different species of Loiium. 



The bearded Darnel t is the only deleterious individual in the 

 whole family of the grasses. It varies greatly in the length of 

 its awn : it must not, however, be confounded with the peren- 

 nial Darnel, or Rye-grass (Loiium perenne}, which is often em- 

 ployed with clover for artificial pasture and hay, and is much 

 esteemed by the agriculturist. The last mentioned species has 

 linear-oblong compressed florets, destitute of awns, and the 

 spikelets are much longer than the glume. 



QrAXiTEES. — The constituent principles of the seeds of Dar- 

 nel appear not to have been investigated by chemists. We only 

 know that they are inodorous, slightly bitter, and disagreeable § 



* Tte great Lord Bac-oc was a firm believer in these luaus nahirae ; he 

 says, " it is certain thai in sterile years, com will grow to another sort. 

 * ♦ • It is not impossible and I have heard it verified that upon catting 

 down of an old timber-tree, the stub hath put out sometimes a tree of 

 another kinde ; as thac Beech hath put I'urth Birch." — Sylva Sylvarum, cent. 

 tL p. 111. 



i 31ilnc's Indigenous Botany, vol. i. 1^ Ctteal in provincial dialects. 



§ " Wan: ye eom for bread, 



'Twas foil of darnel, do you like the taste r" 



Shakspeare. 



