13 



GRASS FAMILY (Gramineae) 



DARNEL (Lolium temulentum L.) 

 PLATE IV. 



COMMON NAMES: Darnel is also called poison-darnel, white darnel, 

 bearded darnel, and tare. The French name for it is "Ivraie," derived 

 from "ivre" meaning drunken, as when brewed with barley it acts as an 

 intoxicant. 



DESCRIPTION: Darnel is an annual grass. It has smooth simple 

 stems from two to four feet high. The leaf blades are four to ten inches 

 long and about one-quarter inch wide, rough on the upper surface and 

 smooth on the lower. The flower, spike is four to twelve inches long, with 

 four to eight flowers to each spikelet, which fits tightly into a slight curve 

 on either side of the stalk. The seed is about the size of a small grain of 

 wheat, it is rounded at each end, with a shallow groove on the inner surface, 

 and is closely covered by two scales, the outer one usually possessing a 

 short awn. The kernel itself is greenish, tinged with brown or purple. 

 It is in bloom from June to August. Darnel is very closely related to 

 English and Italian rye grasses, but may be readily distinguished from 

 both in having no leafy shoots from the base, and consequently it does 

 not grow in tufts or bunches. 



DISTRIBUTION: Introduced from Europe, it is now scattered through- 

 out Canada on cultivated ground and waste places in New Brunswick, 

 the Prairie Provinces and on the Pacific coast. 



POISONOUS PROPERTIES: The injurious effect of darnel has been 

 recognized since early scriptural days, as there is no doubt it was really 

 the tares which the enemy sowed among the wheat. There are also many 

 references to it in the classics; Ovid says "Let the fields be clear of darnel 

 that weakens the eyes." It is referred to in one of Shakespeare's plays 

 as spoiling the bread, and in the same connection Gerarde (1597) says: 

 "The new bread wherein darnell is, eaten hot, causeth drunkenness; in 

 like manner doth beere or ale wherein the seede is fallen, or put into the 

 mault." 



The toxic principle seems to be only in the seed or grain itself, and has 

 been determined as a narcotic alkaloid temuline, which Hofmeister has 

 shown to be a strong nerve poison. Other authorities give different toxic 

 principles, and some refer the cause of injury to a fungus which infests 

 the seed. Esser concludes that according to most authorities who have 

 investigated darnel the fungus alone contains the toxic substance the 

 temuline and hence the grains in which the fungus does not occur should 

 be harmless. H. C. Long, in referring to Esser's work, says: "So far as 



