208 LOLIUM TEMULENTUM. 



one being shorter than its leaf, and having a brief blunt 

 lignle at its apex. Joints smooth, and four in number. In- 

 florescence spiked. Spike upright. Spikelets sessile, placed 

 alternately in two rows of four or five awned florets. Rachis 

 rough and zigzag. Calyx consisting of one glume, which is 

 lengthy and narrow, and having eight ribs. Florets of two 

 paleae, the exterior one of basal floret seven-ribbed. Apex 

 bifid, and having a white harsh awn, more than half the 

 length of the palea, and commencing behind the bifid apex. 

 Inner palea having two green marginal ribs. The glume 

 longer than the spikelet, and smooth, except on the edges. 

 Length twenty-four inches. Root annual and fibrous. 



Dr. Parnell describes a variety which grows amongst and is 

 equally common with the ordinary form, but which is stouter, 

 and the awns of the florets longer. He has named it variety 

 Longiaristatum. 



This species flowers at the commencement of July, and 

 ripens its seeds in a month. 



The illustration is from a specimen gathered near Hyde, 

 in Cheshire, by Mr. Joseph Sidcbotham, of Manchester. 



