EJfGLISH BOTANY. 
outwards towards the circumference of the tuft, from their bases being 
usually decumbent and geniculate. Stems 18 inches to 2 feet higf, 
or a little more, erect or ascending. Leaves 3 inches to 1 foot lolig 
1^7 i to J- inch broad, those of the barren shoots conduplicate when 
young. Spikes 3 to 10 inches long. Spikelets i to f inch long. 
Florets | inch long. 
Var. tenue is rather a starved state than a true variety. 
Monstrosities of the spike are not unfrequent. Sometimes it is 
compound, especially towards the base : sometimes the rachis is 
shortened and the spikelets diverge widely, forming a flattened, oblong, 
blunt spike : sometimes the florets are fasciculate within the glumes, 
and m this case are frequently inflated and abbreviated, so as to be 
ovoid, and sometimes shorter than the glumes. 
Common or Pei^ennial Bye- Grass, 
French, Ivraie vivace. German, Engllsclies Eaygras. 
Stjb.Species II — LoUum Italicmn. A. Braun. 
Plate MDCCCXV. 
Beich. Ic. Fl. Germ, et Helv. Vol. I. Tab. LXXVII. (CXni.) Fi^s 238 and 239 
Billot, Fl. Gall, et Germ. Exsicc. No. 1392. 
L. Boucheannm, Kunth, Enum. Plant. Vol. I. p. 436. 
Perennial, with barren shoots, or more often biennial. Stems nume- 
rous, usually nearly straight throughout, rarely decumbent and gciii- 
culate at the base. Leaves broadly linear, tapering greatly to the 
apex, yellowish-green. Spikelets loosely applied to the rachis, except 
during the time of flowering, when they diverge greatly, 5- to 12- 
flowered. Lower pale with a long slender awn. 
In cultivated fields, and by roadsides and waste places. Kot unfre- 
quent, but always escaped from cultivation. 
[England], [Scotland], [Ireland]. Perennial or biennial, 
kiummer. 
Extremely similar to L. perenne, but distinguished by its taller 
stem, broader leaves, and awned spikelets. The colour of both leaves 
and spikelets is paler. The root has a great tendency to be merely 
biennial, flowering only once» The young leaves of the barren shoots 
are fiometinies involute, but conduplicate, as in L. perenne. 
Loliuni nmltiflorum, 'Z«m., another sub-species, is strictly annual or 
at most biennial. The spikes have more numerous florets ; the lower 
pales are broader in the middle, and hence appear more curved on 
the margins than in L. Iralioum; the more scabrous rachis is a ch-i- 
ructer not to be tru>ted, though I have seen it in all mv speci- 
mens ot L. multittorum. It c-nnnot be considered as a naturalised 
plant, though I have met wi:h it about London, especially in the 
