212 BRITISH GRASSES. 



ered, placed singly on each tooth of the rachis, and pressed 

 close into the angle ; only one empty glume, awl-shaped, 

 permanent, fixed, opposite to the rachis ; flowering glumes 

 lanceolate, narrow, pointed, as long as the empty one ; 

 scales ovate, obtuse, swollen at the base ; filaments short ; 

 flowering glumes enfolding the seed, which only falls when 

 they open ; seed oblong, convex beneath, with a broad shal- 

 low furrow above. 



1. Lolium perenne, Linn. Rye-grass Lolium. 



(L. linicola, Eng. Bot. ; L. multiflorum, Brit. Fl.) 



Root fibrous, downy, perennial ; stem erect or ascending, 

 bent at the base, leafy, cylindrical, ribbed, smooth, a foot 

 high, jointed ; joints several ; leaves narrow, keeled, smooth, 

 dark green, pointed, flat, sometimes rough on the under 

 surface, especially the four or five which grow on the stem ; 

 sheaths smooth, striated, upper one longer than its leaf; 

 ligule short, blunt ; spike nearly erect, very flat, often a 

 little twisted, a third the length of the stem ; rachis smooth, 

 toothed ; spikelets sessile, placed in two rows alternately on 

 the rachis, distant from one another ; outer glume oblong, 

 lanceolate, smooth, five-ribbed, on the outer side very stiff, 

 shorter than the spikelet ; flowering glumes several, some- 

 times obtuse, sometimes pointed, and sometimes furnished 

 with a little awn ; the terminal spikelet has generally two 

 empty glumes ; filaments slender, shorter than the glumes ; 

 anthers cloven at each end ; ovary obtuse ; styles short ; 

 stigmas feathery. 



A common grass in meadows and pastures, on road- 

 sides, and in waste places. Not very attractive in ap- 

 pearance, the stem being stiff, and the flattened spike 

 affording no relief to the straight line of the stem ; the 

 pervading full green tint is the only beauty of the plant. 

 As an agricultural grass it is much prized and exten- 



