528 THE GRASS FAMILY. [ Lolium. 
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 . l. LZ. perenne. 
Outer glume as long as or longer than the plas Some of the 
glumes with awns as long: as themselves. . ; . 2. LD, temulentum, 
1. G. perenne, Linn. (fig. 1211). Ryegrass Lolium.—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 naturalized in other parts of the world. 
Abundant in Britain. FU. 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 Jéalian Ryegrass (L. italicum, Braun), 
now much imported from the Continent, is a variety raised by cultivation, 
most probably from seeds originally exported from England. In rich 
meadows abnormal varieties, or rather, luxuriant states, occur occasionally 
with a branched spike, or with an increased number of variously deformed 
empty glumes. 
2, %. temulentum, Linn. (fig. 1212). Darnel Loliwm.—Closely 
allied to L. perenne, but the root is always annual, the outer glume of the 
spikelets 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 Kurope, and centra — 
Asia, extending more or less into northern Europe as a weed of cultivation, 
and as such generally dispersed over Britain, although not common. F/%, 
summer. 'The Tares of Scripture are 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, Festuca, and 
Bromus, with one or other of which genera they have often been united. 
Awns as long as or longer than the flowering glumes. Spikelets 
usually drooping . : : é . 1. B. sylvaticum. 
Awns shorter than ine flowering glumes, Spikelets erect or 
nearly so , : ; é . 2. B. pinnatum. 
