FLOWERING PLANTS AND FERNS OF ARIZONA 105 



Georgia and Alabama; British Columbia to western Texas, Arizona, 

 and California; introduced from Europe. 



4. Hordeum pusillum Nutt., Gen. PL 1: 87. 1818. 



Yavapai, Maricopa, and Pima Counties, open ground and waste 

 places, March to June. Delaware to Washington, south to Florida, 

 Arizona, and California; South America. 



5. Hordeum gussonianum Pari., Fl. Palerm. 1: 246. 1845. 

 Coconino and Pinal Counties, a weed along ditches, June. British 



Columbia to Utah, Arizona, and California, also Maine and New 

 Jersey; introduced from Europe. 



6. Hordeum adscendens H. B. K., Nov. Gen. et Sp. 1: 280. 1816. 

 Pinal, Maricopa, and Pima Counties, roadsides, along ditches, and 



in waste places, April to May. Arizona and Mexico. 



23. LOLIUM. Ryegrass 



Annuals or perennials with flat leaf blades and usually long, slender 

 spikes; spikelets several-flowered, placed edgewise to the rachis, the 

 first glume wanting; lemmas rounded on the back, obtuse, acute, or 

 awned. 



Perennial ryegrass (L. perenne) and Italian ryegrass (L. multiflorum) 

 are cultivated as forage grasses and in lawns. Darnel {L. temulentum) , 

 which is presumably the " tares" of the Bible, contains in its grains a 

 narcotic poison, but it is uncertain whether the toxin is elaborated 

 by the plant itself or is due to fungus infection. All of the Arizona 

 species are introductions from the Old World. 



Key to the species 



1. Plant annual; glume exceeding the spikelet 3. L. temulentum. 



1. Plants perennial; glume much shorter than the spikelet (2). 



2. Lemmas awnless 1. L. pekenne. 



2. Lemmas, all or some of them, awned 2. L. multiflorum. 



1. Lolium perenne L., Sp. PL 83. 1753. 



Kaibab Plateau near the Grand Canyon (Coconino County), 

 Sacaton Experiment Farm (Pinal County), meadows [and waste 

 places. Newfoundland to Alaska, south to Virginia, Arizona, and 

 California. 



2. Lolium multiflorum Lam., Fl. Franc. 3: 621. 1778. 



Tempe (Maricopa County), Huachuca Mountains (Cochise ( Jounty), 

 open ground and waste places. Range about same as that of L. 

 perenne. 



3. Lolium temulentum L., Sp. PL 83. 1753. 



Pinal and Pima Counties, a weed in cultivated fields and along 

 ditches. Massachusetts and Wisconsin, south to Georgia and Texas; 

 Washington to Arizona, and California. 



24. SCHISMUS 



Low annual with short, slender leaf blades and small rather dense 

 panicles; spikelets several-flowered; glumes acute, subequal, nearly as 



long as the spikelets; lemmas broad, rounded on the hack, bidentate, 



