462 
the year 1670. An attempt was made some years since to introduce this grass 
to the attention of agriculturists through the agency of the Patent Office at 
Washington, but it does not seem to be much cultivated. This is perhaps not 
owing to its want of merit, so much as to the superior claims of Phltum pra- 
tense, which is almost universally cultivated to the exclusion of nearly all other 
species of grass. It runs into numerous varieties; one, with awn-pointed flow T - 
ers is known as the Italian Rye Grass, (A. Italicum ,) but does not differ ma¬ 
terially from the other kinds either in botanical characters or agricultural 
qualities. 
95. Lolium Temulentum. Linnceus. 
White darnel. 
Glumes fully equalling the five to seven-flowered spikelet; awn longer than 
the flower; culm scabrous above, smooth below r ; leaves rough-edged; ligule 
truncate; rachis flexuous; lower palea five-veined. Annual; flowers in July. 
Culms 2 feet high. Introduced. Michigan. Seeds poisonous—the only in¬ 
stance of a deleterious grass. 
GENUS. 36. ELYMUS. Linnceus , 
[Greek name, Elymos, of Ike same plant.] 
Spikelets 2 to 4 at each joint of the rachis, all fertile, each two to seven- 
flowered; the uj permost flower imperfect; glumes nearly side by side in front 
of the spikelets, rarely wanting; paleae coriaceous, the lower rounded on the 
back, usually awned at the apex, adherent to the involving paleae. 
96. Elymus Virginicus. Linnceus . 
Wild rye. Lyme grass. 
Spike rigidly upright, dense and thick on a short peduncle, usually included 
in the sheath; spikelets 2 to 3 together, two to three-flowered, smooth, rather 
short awned; glumes lanceolate, strongly nerved, rough, bristle-pointed, as long 
as the spikelets. Perennial; flowers in August. Culms 2 to 3 feet high. 
Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, and about Lake Superior. 
97. Elymus Canadensis. Linnceus. 
Syn. —E. glaucifolius, Willd. E. Philadelphicus, Linn. Lyme grass.'- Rye 
grass. 
Spikes rather loose, curved, on an exserted peduncle; spikelets mostly in 
pairs, of 3 to 5 long-awned, hairy flowers; the lance-awl-shaped glumes tipped 
