TRIANDRIA. DIGYNIA. Lolium. 
199 
LO'LIUM. Cal . one leaf, fixed, many-flowered. Spikets 
alternate. 
L. peren'ne. Spike awnless: spikets compressed, many-flowered, 
longer than the calyx: (florets spear-shaped. E.) 
Gram. Pasc. — Dicks. H. S. — {Hook. FI. Lond. — E.Bot.315. E.)— Schreb. 
37 —Leers 12. 1— II. Ox. viii. 2. 2— FI. Dan. 747— Dod. 540. 1— Lob. 
Obs. 21. 1— Ger. Em. 78. 2— Park. 1145. 2, and 1146. 7— C. B. 128— 
Maith. 1023— Scheuch. 1.7. A, B, C, D.—Mont. 19. 
This plant is subject to considerable variation, as it grows in rich or poor 
soil; it is from six to twenty inches high or more, and the parts of fruc¬ 
tification vary in proportion. The spike is generally flat, but sometimes 
nearly cylindrical, (two to six inches long, nearly upright. E.) Spike 
sometimes shows a disposition to become branched, particularly towards 
the bottom. Calyx from three to six or seven-flowered; the terminating 
calyx two-leaved. 
Var. 2. Tenue. Slender. Spike awnless, cylindrical; spikets three- 
flowered. L.tenue. Linn. {L. perenne (3. Sm. Hort. Gram. E.) 
Var. 3. Compositus. Broad-spiked. Spike compound. L. perenne y. Sm. 
(Zf. perenne y and d. Sm. Scheuch. Pr. 2. Gramen loliaceum, &c. Spike 
as broad as it is long, composed of many smaller spikes placed in a double 
row and closely crowded together. Scheuch. This and the preceding var. 
observed near Norwich. Sm. E.) 
Ray Grass. RyeGrass. Crap. Red Darnel. (Welsh : Efryn par- 
haus. E.) Road sides, dry pastures. P. June.* * 
hills, called Links, along a considerable part of our northern coasts. E.) Newbo- 
rough, in Anglesey, subsists chiefly by manufacturing this Reed into mats and ropes. 
(It was introduced into Cornwall by Mr. Praed, of Trevethoe, and the progress of the 
sand flood which formerly desolated the country around Hayle, has thus been arrested. 
Guide. A legislative enactment, 1742, for the preservation of this plant, extends gene¬ 
rally to the north west coast of England; but such persons as claimed prescriptive 
right of cutting it on the sea coast of Cumberland are said to be exempt from its 
operation. The Scottish parliament likewise protected this plant, together with Elymus 
arenarius , by a penal statute. E.) 
* It makes an excellent hay upon dry chalky or sandy soils. It is cultivated with 
advantage along with clover, (under a crop of spring corn. E.) and springs earlier than 
the other grasses ; thereby supplying food for cattle, at a season when it is most difficult 
to be obtained. Cows, horses, and sheep eat it. Goats are not fond of it. It was 
hinted in Gramina Pascua by Mr. Swayne, that there was reason to think that 
the common cultivated Ray grass had by frequent sowing degenerated from its natural 
qualities ; and that it was inferior in many respects to the Ray grass growing naturally 
in our best meadows and pastures. Mr. Pacey, an enlightened agriculturist in the upper 
part of Gloucestershire, has lately raised a variety of Ray Grass from seed selected 
from old pastures, and has now multiplied it to that extent as to sell annually a consi¬ 
derable quantity at the price of 10s. 6d. per bushel. It has been proved by competent 
judges, to be infinitely superior to the cultivated Ray Grass , and he has a demand for 
all he raises. What can have been the cause of the degeneracy of the cultivated sort? 
Has L. temulentum had any share in this deterioration? Mr. Swayne. (According to 
Mr. Salisbury, (who admits its utility for temporary culture), it is not to be relied on for 
permanent meadow, as it exhausts the soil, becomes feeble, and is overpowered by 
other plants. “Nothing but a fine rich soil will produce a good crop.” It appears 
that this grass is gready influenced in its variations by different soils. An account of 
many varieties may be read in Sinclair’s Hort. Gram. They are supposed by some 
cultivators to amount to sixty. From Woldridge’s Husbandry, Rye Grass appears to 
