530 THE GRASS FAMILY. [Lolium. 



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. Awns short or none . 1. L. perenne. 

 Outer glume as long as or longer than the spikelet. Some of the 



glumes with awns as long as themselves 2. L. temulentum. 



1. la. 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 so long 

 as the whole spikelet. Flowering glumes 8 to 16 or even more, obtuse 

 or 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 Italian 

 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 L. 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 not so 

 distinctly stalked as in Festuca. 



A genus of very few species, chiefly from the temperate regions of 

 the Old World, and intermediate, as it were, between Agropyrum, 



