L O L I U M. 



ef which there are feveral fpccies, fome of which are highly 

 ■nfefiil to the farmer, as the lolium perenne. 



LoLlUM, in Botany, a Latin word of unknown origin. — 

 Darnel, or Dariiel-grafs. Virgil calls it ^' infelix lolium," 

 not only as being a weed amongft corn, but probably alluding 

 to an idea, long prevalent, that corn was transformed into it. 

 Tiiis opinion of the change of one kind of gramineous 

 plant into another, as wheat into rye, rye into barley, barley 

 into darnel, darnel into brome-grafs ; and of the latter by 

 becomin;^ oats or rye, in a fertile foil, returning again to a 

 more improved ftate ; all this, however abfurd, was fo ge- 

 nerally believed, that Linnseus thought proper to write a 

 differtatlon againftit. See Trnnfmuii'.Uo Fritmentorum, Amoen. 

 Acad. V. 5. 106 — Linn. Gen. 38. Schrt-b. jj. Willd. 

 Sp. PI. V. I. 461 Mart. Mill. Did. V, 3. Sm. Fl. 

 Brit. 148. Ait. Ho|-t. Kevv. ed. 2. v. i. 174. Jiifl". 3^1. 

 Lamarck llluftr. t. 48. -Clafs and order, Trlandrla Di- 

 gyu'ui. Nat. Ord. Gramina. 



Gen. Ch. Cal. Common receptacle elongated into a fpike, 

 the flowers, which are difpofed in two ranks, being prelfed 

 clofe to an angle of the llalk. Glume of one valve, awl- 

 fhaped, permanent, fixed, oppofite to the ftalk. Cor. of 

 two valves ; the lowermoll lanceolate, narrow, convolutecjj 

 pointed, the length of the calyx ; the uppermoft ihorter, 

 linear, blunter, concave above. Nectary of two fmall, 

 Ovate, obtufe leaflets, gibbous at their hafe. Stam. Fila- 

 ments three, capillary, (horter than the corolla ; anthers ob- 

 long. Pyi. Ger;r.en turbinate ; flyles two, capillary, re- 

 fiexed ; ftigmas feathery. Perk, none ; the corolla em- 

 bracing the feed, and finally opening to let it fall. Seed one, 

 oblong, convex beneath, with a broad (hallow furrow above, 

 ComprefTed. 



Obf. The fefiile fpikelets ftand in the fame plane with the 

 ftalk, fo that the latter fupplies the place of an inner valve 

 to the calys, which neverthelefs is fometimes prefent, though 

 diminutive. 



EfT. Ch. Calyx of one valve, fixed, many-flowered. 

 Florets two-ranked. 



1. 'L.. perenne. Perennial Darnel ; Red Darnel ; or Ray- 

 grafs. Linn. Sp. PL 122. Engl. Bot. t. 3 1 J. Mart. 

 Ruft. t. 4. Knapp. t. 100. — Spike awnlel's. Spikelets 

 longer than the calyx. Florets lanceolate. — A common 

 ^European grafs, in rather fertile ground, about the borders 



of fields, road fides, pallures, &c. flowering in June The 



rsot is fibrous, downy, perennial. Stem a foot high, eredl 

 or afcending, bent at the bottom, jointed, leafy, round in 

 the upper part, ftriated, fmooth. Leaves linear, keeled, 

 fmooth, dark green, with fmooth, ftriated Iheaths, and a 

 Ihort obtufe flipula. Spike nearly ereft, very flat, often a 

 little twifted. 



A variety with a compound fpike is figured by Leers, 

 t. 12. f. r ; and another with a remarkably lliort broad and 

 denfe fpike, in Scbeuchz. Prodr. t. 2. Vaillant's t. 17. 

 f. 3, with long awns, cited by Willdenow after Reichard, 

 furely canr.ot belong to this fpecies. 



S. L. terue ; Linn. Sp. PI. 122. Willd. n. 2, appears 

 to be only a ftarved variety of perenne, with very few florets 

 in each calyx. 



2. L,. Umulentum. Bearded Darnel. Linn. Sp. PI. 122. 

 Fl. Dan. t. 160. Leers. 48. t. 12. f. 2. Engl. Bot. 

 t. I 124. Knapp. t. 104. Hoft. Gram. Auftr v. it. 26. 

 Schreb. Gram. t. 36 — Spike awned. Spikelets fhorter 

 than the calyx. Florets elliptical. Stem rough in the 

 upper part. — Native of European corn-fields, among barley, 



wheat, or flax, flowering in .Inly Root annual, of a few 



downy fibres. St.-m nearly folitary, twice as tall and ftout 

 a? the forrrer, eieft, firm, of about three knots ; very 



Vol. XXL 



fmooth and fhining in the lower part ; rough abov?. Leaves 

 lanceolate, fpreading, ribbed, rough, of a lighter green 

 than in />fren«ir. 5/;^//^/ roughifli. Stipula very ftiort, cre- 

 natc. Spiie ereft, larger and more turgid than in the former. 

 Calyx without awns ; in the lower fpikelets often f urnifhed 

 with a minute, elliptical, inner valve. Florets numerous, 

 ovate, fwelling, fiightly ribbed, rough, each tipped with an 

 awl-fliaped, whitilh, rough, ereci awn, twice its own length, 

 from a httle below the top— The feeds are faid to be intoxi- 

 cating to men, bealls and birds, and even to bring on con- 

 vulfions and death. We know of no mifchicfs from it in 

 this country, where it is far from common. 



3. L. arven/e. Annual Beardlcfs Darnel. Wither- 

 ing 168. Engl. Bot. t. 1125. Knapp. t. 102. (L. te- 

 mulentum ; Hudf. 5J.) — Spike almoil beardlefs. Sfjijke- 

 Icts about the length of the calyx. Florets elliptical. Stem 

 very fmooth. — Native of fields in England and Scotland, as 

 well as other parts of Europe. Willdenow indicates it as 

 a variety of the laft. It differs however, not only in being 

 not at all, or very fiiortly, awned, but in the total fmooth- 

 iiefs of Wsjlcm znd/pih. The /eaves are occafionally rough, 

 but on their upper fide only. Dr. Withenng, who firft de- 

 fined this fpecie.s, fays the calyx has two valves ; but we 

 ufually find only one. The atvns are too large in the plate 

 of Eiiglifi! Botany. 



4. L. mnxinv.im. Great Weft-Indian Darnel. Willd. 

 n. 4 — "Calyx as long as the many-flowered comprefled 

 fpikelet ; of which the upper florets are awned." — Native 

 of Jamaica. Root annual. Whole grafs twice as large as 

 L.temulmtum, from, which alfo it differs in having the ea/yx 

 equal in length lo the fpiielet ; and while the upper forets 

 have long awns, the reft are beardlefs. Yet Willdenow, 

 from whofe work we adopt this fpecies, fufpeds it may b? 

 but a variety of the fecond. 



5. L. di/lcicl.yon. Double-fpiked Indian Darnel. — Lin». 

 Mant. 187.— Spikes in pairs. Calyx fingle-flowered. Co- 

 rolla fringed — Sent by Koenig from the coaft. o£Malabar. — 

 Stems partly decumbent, (lender, branched, fmooth. Leaves 

 flsort, narrow, with long, fmooth, rather tumid (heaths. 

 Spikes in pairs, terminal, equal, flender, two or three inches 

 long. Flowers in two ranks, but direfted to one fide. 

 Ca/y.r of one valve, fingle-f.owered. Corolla ovate, denfely 

 fringed with fine, long, white hairs. A fingular grafs, 

 whole genus is at leaR doubtful. In fome points it refemble* 

 a Panicum. 



Lolium Perenne, the botanical name of the grafs ufually 

 known to the farmers by the name of ray-grafs : it has a 

 perennial fibrous creeping root. The ilems, feveral from 

 ths fame root, proftrate or oblique iX. the bafe, but the 

 flowering flem upright, fmooth, from fix inches to eighteen, 

 twenty and twenty-four inches in height, according to the 

 foil : they have feveral joints near the bafe, at a fmall dif- 

 tance from each other, but on the upper part only one or 

 two. On a great number of plants of a middling fize three 

 joints, and never more than four, were counted by Miller, 

 the flowering-liem running up from eleven to fourteen 

 inches above the laft joint. They are frequently ruffet- 

 colourcd at the joints ; the leaves are four or five inches 

 long, and from two to four lines wide, lengthened out into 

 a poi t ; the leaf on the flem above twice as broad as thofe 

 next the root and on the runners. The (heath covers the 

 ftem for feveral inches abovi the upper joint; both that 

 and the leaves are fmooth. The flowers are in a fpike, 

 which is from four to fix or feven, and even nine inches in 

 length, compofcd of many (ten toeighteeif) fpikelets, ranged 

 at a little diftance from each other, in two rows alternately 

 along the rachis or common receptacle. TThe fpike is gene- 

 1" p rally 



