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Published In: Species Plantarum 1: 83. 1753. (1 May 1753) (Sp. Pl.) Name publication detailView in BotanicusView in Biodiversity Heritage Library
 

Project Name Data (Last Modified On 8/28/2009)
Acceptance : Accepted
Project Data     (Last Modified On 7/9/2009)
Status : Introduced

 

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1. Lolium perenne L. (perennial rye grass, English rye grass)

Pl. 178 a–c; Map 721

Plants annual, forming tufts, or perennial, with sterile offsets produced from short stolons, forming clumps. Flowering stems 30–120 cm long. Leaf sheaths with the ligule 0.5–2.5 mm long. Leaf blades 2–15(–25) cm long, 1–6 mm wide. Inflorescences 5–25 cm long, the axis roughened along the angles and sometimes on the surfaces. Spikelets 5–22 mm long, with 4–22 florets. Glume 4–12 mm long, mostly less than 2/3 as long as the rest of the spikelet, relatively soft. Lemmas with the body 3.5–9.0 mm long, mostly 4–8 times as long as wide, oblong‑lanceolate to oblong‑oblanceolate in outline, sharply to bluntly pointed (sometimes split into 2 small teeth) at the tip, awnless or with an awn 0.5–15.0 mm long. Anthers 2.0–4.5 mm long. Fruits 2.5–5.5 mm long, relatively slender, about 3–5 times as long as wide. 2n=14, 28. May–August.

Introduced, widely scattered in Missouri (native of Europe, cultivated nearly worldwide). Pastures, roadsides, railroads, and open, disturbed areas.

This species is planted as a pasture grass for forage and hay. For a discussion of potential problems with it as a forage grass, see the paragraph on endophytic fungi at the head of the genus Festuca. It also is a component of seed mixes for lawns and as a temporary soil cover for erosion control, especially along roadsides. Steyermark (1963) noted that it may be an important causal agent of hay fever.

Lolium perenne consists of annual and perennial variants that have been treated as separate species by some authors and combined by others. These are recognized as varieties in the present treatment.

 

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1 1. Plants annual (rarely biennial), without stolons or offsets, forming tufts; spikelets with mostly 11–22 florets; lemmas usually with awns 3–15 mm long...1A. VAR. ARISTATUM

Lolium perenne var. aristatum
2 1. Plants perennial, with sterile offsets produced from short stolons, forming clumps; spikelets with 2–10 florets; lemmas awnless or rarely with awns 0.5–8.0 mm long...1B. VAR. PERENNE Lolium perenne L. var. perenne
 


 

 
 
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