272 MISC. PUBLICATION 200, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



5 to 7 mm long, awnless or nearly so. % — Meadows and waste 

 places, Newfoundland to Alaska and south to Virginia and California, 

 occasionally farther south; cultivated in meadows, pastures, and 

 lawns, introduced from Europe. Also called English ryegrass. 

 Lolium perenne var. cristatum Pers. Spikes ovate, the spikelets 

 crowded, horizontally spreading. 01 — Open ground, Wilmington, 

 Del., and Washington, D. C; ballast, Salem and Eola, 

 Oreg. ; adventive from Europe. 



Lolium strictum Presl. Annual; branched and 

 spreading at base, 10 to 30 cm tall; spike thickish, 5 

 to 10 cm long, the rachis thick but flattish and angled. 

 O —Introduced at Berkeley, Calif.; Europe. Re- 

 sembles L. subulatum but the spikelets not sunken in 

 a cylindric rachis. 



2. Lolium multiflorum Lam. Italian ryegrass. 

 (Fig. 534, A.) Differing from L. perenne in the more 

 robust habit, larger spikelets, and awned lemmas; 

 spikelets 10- to 20-flowered, 1.5 to 2.5 cm long; lemmas 

 7 to 8 mm long, at least the upper awned. % (L. 

 italicum A. Br.) — About the same range as L. perenne, 

 especially common on the Pacific coast where it is often 

 called Australian ryegrass. Introduced from Europe. 

 Scarcely more than a variety of L. perenne but general- 

 ly recognized as distinct agriculturally. A much 

 reduced form has been called forma microstachyum 

 Uechtritz. — California. 



Lolium rigidum Gaudin. Annual; foliage blue-green; 

 spikes rather stiff; otherwise like L. multiflorum. o 

 — Wheat fields, North Dakota (Milton, Calio); Europe. 

 temulentum L. Darnel. (Fig. 535, A.) Annual; 

 culms 60 to 90 cm tall; blades mostly 3 to 6 mm wide; spike strict, 

 15 to 20 cm long; glume about 2.5 cm long, as long as or longer than 

 the 5- to 7-flowered spikelet, firm, pointed; florets plump, the lemmas 

 as much as 8 mm long, obtuse, awned, the awn as much as 8 mm long. 

 G — Grainfields and waste places, occasional throughout the eastern 

 United States and rather common on the Pa- 

 cific coast (fig. 536) ; introduced from Europe. 

 Lolium temulentum var. leptochaeton A. 

 Br. Lemmas awnless. o — Washington to 

 California, occasional on the Atlantic coast, 

 Maine to Texas ; introduced from Europe. 



4. Lolium subulatum Vis. (Fig. 535, B.) 

 Annual ; culms freely branching at base, stiffly 

 spreading or prostrate; foliage scant, blades 

 short; spike subcylindric, rigid, often curved; spikelets sunken in 

 the excavations of the rachis, the florets partly hidden by the ap- 

 pressed obtuse strongly nerved glume; lemmas 5 mm long, o — 

 On ballast, near Portland, Oreg. ; introduced from Europe. 



Figure 535— ^4, 

 Lolium temulen- 

 tum, X Vi (Lei- 

 berg 771, Oreg.) 

 B, L. subulatum, 

 X Yi. (Sheldon, 

 Oreg.) 



3. Lolium 



Figure 536.— Distribution of 

 Lolium temulentum. 



Nardus stricta L. Slender tufted perennial; sheaths crowded at 

 the base of the plant; blades slender, involute, rather stiff; spike 

 slender, 1 -sided, 3 to 8 cm long; spikelets 1 -flowered; first glume 



