| Monocotyledon | Literature for Lolium multiflorum
Wagner et al., 1990, 1999. |
| Poaceae -- The Grass Family | Bibliography |
| Lolium multiflorum | |
Common name(s): ryegrass, Italian ryegrass |
| General Information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Distribution | Native to Europe and the Mediterranean region, widely used in temperate regions as a pasture grass.In the Hawaiian Islands, naturalized on Kaua`i, O`ahu, Moloka`i, Maui, Hawai`i. |
|
| Habit |
Annuals or short-lived perennials, usually without basal innovations; culms ascending or erect, 5-10 dm tall, smooth to scabrous in lower part. |
|
| Leaves |
Sheaths glabrous, persistent at base of the plant, auricles well-developed, crescent-shaped, up to 1.5 mm long; ligule 0.5-1.5 mm long; blades flat or slightly involute, (3-)3.5-7(-10) mm wide, upper surface scabrous. |
|
| Flowers |
Spikes erect, (10-)14-27(-30) cm long; spikelets distichous, appressed against rachis, 6-10(-15)-flowered, 9-15(-20) mm long; second glume narrowly lanceolate, 4-9(-12) mm long, usually ca. 1/2 as long as the spikelet, apex obtuse to rounded; lemmas lanceolate, 5-6.6(-7.5) mm long, 5-nerved, glabrous to scabrous, margins inrolled, apex obtuse to acute, those of the lower florets mucronate, those of the upper florets with awns 1-5(-8) mm long produced from a minutely bifid apex; palea about as long as lemma, 2-nerved, margins finely ciliate, keels winged. |
|
| Fruit |
Caryopsis brown, dorsally compressed, obovoid to ellipsoid, 3-4 mm long. |
|
| Chromosomes |
2n = 14 |
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