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it to be less productive than oats, and not capable of replacing the 

 latter at any other season of the year. 



TRIBE XII. HORDEiE. 



72. LOLIUM, Linn, Reducible to 2 or 3 species according to Ben- 

 tham, and confined to temperate parts of the world. The position of the 

 spikelets on the rachis distinguishes this genus from all others belong- 

 ing to this tribe, the spikelets being so placed as to have their margins 

 facing the rachis. 



1. temulentum, Linn. (Darnel). 



Annual. Outer glume of the lateral spikelets usually as long as or longer than the 

 whole spikelet. Flowering glumes oblong, usually obtuse, with an awn as long or 

 longer than the glume itself. 



Plains and hills of the Punjab and N.-W. Provinces. The seeds of this grass 

 have for a long time been supposed to possess poisonous properties, and numerous 

 instances have been given of the ill-effects after eating flour or bread into which the 

 grains of this grass have been purposely or accidentally introduced. Recent experi* 

 ments however indicate that healthy darnel grain is perfectly innocuous, and that 

 only grains which are ergotized or otherwise diseased are injurious. For further 

 information see Bentley and Trimen's " Medicinal Plants," p. 295. 



L, perenne, Linn. (Perennial Rye-grass). 



A well-known and most important fodder grass. It grows wild on the 

 Himalayan ranges up to 11,000 feet. It is said to stand the dry heat 

 of the Australian summer very well, and would probably be found to 

 thrive as a cold weather fodder crop in N.-W. India. In Europe it is 

 largely grown along with clover. 



73. TRITICUM, Linn. There are about 10 species, which are con- 

 fined to Western Asia and the Mediterranean region. The spikelets are 

 few-flowered, somewhat compressed, and are placed on the rachis so as to 

 have the margins of the glumes facing the rachis. The flowering glumes 

 are oblong or ventrieose, rounded on the back or keeled above, 5-9- 

 nerved, the lateral ones short and not joining towards the apex, or pro- 

 duced into a distinct awn, as in bearded wheat. 



T. sativum, Lamk. (Wheat). Vern. — General : Gehun or gohun ; 

 Ladak: Tokar (white), tomar (red), and tro (Stewart); N. Tibet: Dro 

 (Stewart); Punjab Himalaya : Nis (Stewart), zwd(Kunawar and Bas- 

 sahir) ; Punjab Plains : Kanak (Stewart), khasil and khawid (cut as 

 fodder), Bengal: Gom -( Roxb.), gau (Watt). 



The cultivation of this important plant is of pre-historic antiquity, 

 and wheat is now nowhere known to occur in a wild state. DeCandolle 

 believes that it originated somewhere in the Euphrates region, whilst 

 other authors give reasons in favour of its developement from a species of 





