iro 



THE GENERA AND THEIR SPECIES. 



striated, uppermost longer than 

 leaf ; ligale short and blunt. Spike 

 flat, nearly erect, notched alter- 

 nately. Spikelets erect, edgeways 

 on the notches, with three or more 

 florets. Rachilla compressed. Outer 

 glume not longer than spikelet, 

 lanceolate, ribs five, inner glume 

 only to uppermost floret. Outer 

 palea five-ribbed, obtuse, glabrous, 

 rounded on back, occasionally with 

 a short awn ; inner palea rather 

 shorter, ciliate. 



Varieties — 



L. aristatum. 

 L. Unicoi a. 

 L. italicam. 



Lolium perenne. 

 Spikelet. For Floret see p. 59. 



Outer palea with a long awn 



Without barren shoots. 



Stem rough ; leaves rolled in bud, edges 

 of young leaves involute, leaves 

 auricled, broad, margin smooth ; sheaths 

 pink underground ; outer palea long 

 awned 



This grass was cultivated in this country previous to 1677, 

 the seed being first sown on the Chilterns. It is common almost 

 everywhere, growing on almost all soils, but best where the ground 

 is tenacious. The moister the land the longer it will last provided 

 the water be not stagnant. It is excellent for horses, and its 

 straw cut into chaff furnishes good food for cattle. It soon 

 matures and improves as it ripens, but yields a poor aftermath. 

 Its seed — fusiform, yellowish brown, four-and-a-half times as 

 long as it is broad — is rather large, there being only 6,163,740 

 to the bushel, which weighs 21 pounds ; but the yield is abundant 

 and germination easy. It has numerous varieties — in 1823 Mr. 

 Whitworth, of Acre House, had a collection of sixty of them — 

 the best being L. italicum, the grass from which Parmesan cheese 

 is derived, which was introduced from Italy by Mr. Lawson, of 



