B. stérilis, L. Culm glabrous; leaves rather downy; panicle open; spikelets on elongated nearly straight simple peduncles, of 5–9 rather distant 7-nerved roughish linear-awl-shaped long-awned flowers (awn 1´ long).—Waste places and river-banks, E. Mass. to Penn.; rare. June. (Nat. from Eu.)
B. tectòrum, L. Leaves short; panicle lax, somewhat 1-sided, the more numerous pubescent spikelets on very slender curving pedicels.—More common, N. Eng. to Penn. and N. Y. (Adv. from Eu.)
71. LÒLIUM, L. Darnel. ([Pl. 11.])
Spikelets many-flowered, solitary on each joint of the continuous rhachis, placed edgewise; empty glumes, except in the terminal spikelet, only one (the upper) and external. Otherwise nearly as in Agropyrum. (Ancient Latin name.)
L. perénne, L. (Common Darnel, Ray- or Rye-Grass.) Root perennial; glume shorter than the spikelet; flowers 8–15, awnless or sometimes short-awned.—Fields and lots; eastward. June. (Nat. from Eu.)
L. temuléntum, L. (Bearded Darnel.) Root annual; culm taller; outer glume fully equalling the 5–7-flowered spikelet; awn longer than the flower (½´ long).—Grain-fields; rare. (Adv. from Eu.)
72. AGROPỲRUM, Gaertn. ([Pl. 11.])
Spikelets 3–many-flowered, compressed, 2-ranked, alternate on opposite sides of a solitary terminal spike, single at each joint (the lowermost, or all, rarely in pairs) and sessile with the side against the axis. Glumes transverse (i.e. right and left), nearly equal and opposite, lanceolate, herbaceous, nerved. Flowering glumes rigid, convex on the back, 5–7-nerved, pointed or awned from the tip; palet flattened, bristly-ciliate on the nerves, adherent to the groove of the grain. Stamens 3.—Our species rather coarse perennials, of difficult definition. (Name from ἀγρός a field, and πυρός, wheat.)
[*] Multiplying by long running rootstocks; awn shorter than the flower or none.
1. A. rèpens, Beauv. (Couch-, Quitch-, or Quick-Grass.) Spikelets 4–8-flowered, glabrous or nearly so; glumes 3–7-nerved; rhachis glabrous, but rough on the edges; awns when present straight; leaves flat and often roughish or pubescent above. (Triticum repens, L.)—Nat. from Europe in cultivated grounds, fields, etc., and very troublesome; indigenous in some of its forms northwestward and on the coast.—Varies greatly. The ordinary form has a narrow spike, with 3–5-flowered spikelets, the glumes merely acute and rigid-cuspidate, or acuminate, or short-awned. A tall form, rather bright green, bears awns nearly as long as the glumes. Other forms abound, especially on or near the coast. A maritime variety, much resembling var. glaucum, Boiss. (A. glaucum, R. & S.), with large crowded 5–10-flowered spikelets and glumes very blunt or mucronate, glaucous and the leaves rather rigid and pungent, occurs on the coast of Maine (Cape Elizabeth, Tuckerman). In the more usual form of this variety, with the large spikes often elongated (3–9´) and the leaves less rigid, the glumes are acuminate or rarely short-awned. The rhachis or the whole inflorescence and the lower sheaths are sometimes very pubescent. The glabrous state, or a very similar glabrous variety, is also abundant in the western region, from Kan. and Neb. to Dak., and westward, where it is known as Blue-joint or Blue-stem. (Eu.)