GRAMINEiE. 



985 



XXYIII. IiOXiIUM. 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 glumes shorter than the spikelet. Awns short or none 1. Ryegrass L. 

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



the glumes with awns as long as themselves 2. Darnel L. 



1. Byegrass Lolium. Lolium perenne, Linn. (Fig. 1196.) 



(Eng. Bot. t. 315, L. linicola, Suppl. t. 2955, and L. mwltijlorum, 

 Brit. Fl.) 



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 dis- 

 tance from each other. Outer glume 

 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 some- 

 times 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 na- 

 turalized in other parts of the world. 

 Abundant in Britain. FL the whole 



season. It varies much in duration, and in the precise shape and pro- 

 portion of the glumes, as well as in the presence or absence of awns. 

 The Italian Byegrass (L. italicum, Braun), now much imported from 

 the Continent, is a variety raised by cultivation, most probably from 



Fig. 1196. 



