SNS 
530 THE GRASS FAMILY. 
XXVIII. LOLIUM. LOLIUM. 
"Spikelets several-flowered, closely sessile, and single in each notch of 
the simple spike, the edge of the spikelet (or the backs of the glumes 
of one row) next the axis of the spike. One or rarely 2 outer glumes 
empty, differing but little from the flowering ones. 
A genus of very few species, natives of the temperate regions of the 
northern hemisphere, some of them found also, either indigenous or 
perhaps introduced, in the southern hemisphere, and even within the 
tropics. 
Outer glume shorter than the spikelet. Awnsshortornone . 1. ZL. perenne. 
Outer glume as long as or longer than the spikelet. Some of the 
glumes with awns as long as themselves . 4 : . 2 LL. temulentum. 
1. L. perenne, Linn. (fig. 1215). Ryegrass.—An erect, or slightly © 
decumbent Grass, either annual or often lasting for several years, 1 to 
2 feet high, leafy only in the lower part. Spike 6 inches to a foot long, 
the spikelets at a considerable distance from each other. Outer glumes 
of the lateral spikelets empty, stiff, and strongly nerved, usually much 
larger than the others, yet seldom attaining 6 lines and never solong' ~- 
as the whole spikelet. Flowering glumes 8 to 16 or even more, obtuse 
er pointed, or sometimes ending in a short awn. In the terminal 
spikelet the second glume is usually empty, and sometimes also in the 
lateral spikelets. 
In meadows, pastures, and waste places, throughout Europe and 
Russian Asia, except the extreme north, and naturalised in other parts 
of the world. Abundant in Britain. ‘Fl. the whole season. It varies 
much in duration, and in the precise shape and proportion of the 
glumes, as well as in the presence or absence of awns. The /talian 
Ryegrass (L. italicum, Braun), is a variety raised by cultivation, most 
probably from seeds originally exported from England. In rich : 
meadows abnormal varieties, or rather, luxuriant states, occur occa- 
sionally with a branched spike, or with an increased number of vari- 
ously deformed empty glumes. 
2. L. temulentum, Linn. (fig. 1216). Darnel.—Closely allied to 
L. perenne, but the root is always annual, the outer glume of the spike- 
lets usually as long as the spikelet itself, the flowering glumes shorter 
and broader than in LZ. perenne, and some of them at least have an awn 
longer than themselves. 
In fields and waste places, in central and southern Europe, and 
central Asia, extending more or less into northern Europe as a weed 
of cultivation, and as such generally dispersed over Britain, but not 
common. Fl. summer. The Tares of Scripture have been supposed to 
refer to this species. | 
XXIX. BRACHYPODIUM. FALSE-BROME. 
Spikelets many-flowered, long, in a single spike as in Agropyrum, but 
not so much flattened as in that genus, and not quite so closely sessile, 
the axis of the spike not being indented to receive them, yet n08 SO 
distinctly stalked as in Festuca. a 
A genus of very few species, chiefly from the temperate regions of 
the Old World, and intermediate, as it were, between Agropyrum, | 
