GRASS FAMILY. 73 



between the teeth; palea hyaline, 1-nerved, acuminate and deeply 2-fid. Scales 

 obsolete. Stamen 1. Ovary glabrous, narrowly obovate; stigma short, sessile, 

 feathery. Achene linear-tapering, obtuse, free, slightly compressed laterally, 

 not grooved; embryo prominent. (F. Lamson-Scribner, formerly agrostologist 

 to the United States Department of Agriculture.) 



1. S. bolanderi (Thurb.) Hackel. Scribneria. Stems 12 to in. high, 

 mostly simple, leafy; sheaths striate; ligule prominent, 1 to 2 lines long, 

 acute; blades % to % in. long, narrow, involute, acute; spike % to 2 or 4% 

 in. long, erect, slightly flexuous or curved, purplish; spikelets about 3 lines 

 long, usually exserted, scabrid. — (Lepturus bolanderi Thurb.) 



Found in dry gravelly soils on hillsides and roadsides from Lake and Men- 

 docino cos. northward to Oregon, and in the Sierra Nevada. Apr. -May. 



42. LOLIUM L. Ray-grass. 



Leaf -blades flat. Spike simple, solitary; rachis not jointed at the nodes. 

 Spikelets in notches excavated alternately on opposite sides of the rachis, with 

 the backs of one row of bractlets turned towards it, 3 to several-flowered, 

 flattened laterally. Bracts 2 in the terminal spikelet, only 1 (the outermost) 

 or 1 and a rudiment in the lateral spikelets. Eachilla jointed. Bractlet firm, 

 5-nerved. Palea ciliate. Stamens 3. Scales 2, mostly as long as the ovary. 

 Ovary smooth or slightly downy at top; styles very short; stigmas feathery. 

 (Lolium, the name used by Latin writers to designate Darnel, Lolium temulen- 

 tum, and perhaps other grain-field weeds. At once distinguished from all 

 other genera of the tribe Hordeae by the solitary flat spikelets, arranged 

 distichously with one edge towards the rachis.) 



Spikelet much flattened; bract shorter than the rachilla 1. L. pcrcnnc. 



Spikelet prominently turgid; bract equaling or exceeding the rachilla. ... 2. L. temulentum. 



1. L. perenne L. Australian or English Perennial Ray-grass. Peren- 

 nial; stems 1 to 2 or even 3 ft. high, smooth; foliage dark-green; sheaths 

 smooth, slightly compressed; ligule short; edges and upper surface of blade 

 scabrid;- spike 1 to 12 in. long, strict, stout, bearing 6 to 10 spikelets, or 

 slender and bearing 3 to 4 spikelets; rachis smooth, channeled; spikelets % 

 to % in. long, quite smooth, shining, 7 to 11-flowered; bracts strongly ribbed, 

 linear-lanceolate; bractlet linear-oblong, terete, obtuse or cuspidate or rarely 

 very shortly awned, ribbed; anthers purple. 



Introduced as a forage plant and naturalized by roadsides and in waste 

 places: Berkeley; Point Reyes, etc. Feb-Aug. Var. tenue Kunth (L. tenue 

 L.). Pacey's Ray-grass. Perennial; more slender than the species; spikelets 

 3 to 4-flowered; bractlet acute, rarely very shortly awned. Var. multi- 

 florum Auct. (L. multiflorum Lam.). Annual Italian Ray-grass. Annual 

 (or at most only biennial) ; spikes very handsome, often reddish-tinged and 

 curved; spikelets 10 to 25-flowered; bractlet sometimes awned, broader in the 

 middle, and therefore appearing more curved on the margins than in var. 

 italieum; rachis more scabrous. — Cloverdale; Berkeley. Var. italicum Hook. 

 (L. italicum R. Br.). Perennial Italian Ray-grass. Biennial or perennial; 

 Btems taller, leaves broader; both leaves and spikelets lighter green in color 

 than in the species; spikelets .1 to 10-tlowered; bractlets long- or short-awned. — 

 A cultivated form not known in tin; wild state except as naturalized. 



2. L. temulentum L. Darnel. Poison-Darnel. Annual; stem stout, 

 1 to 3 ft. high; spike rather stout; spikelets ;"> to 10-flowered; bract Bharp 

 pointed, ribbed, extending to the apex of or beyond the uppermost bractlet; 



