Lolium temulentum, L. (Fig. [48]).
Palea ovate, 6-7·5 × 2·5 mm., papyraceous, inflated, smooth, the tip dry and emarginate with a slender sub-terminal awn its own length or longer. It tends to adhere to the fruit. Fruit 3·5-5 mm. × 2·5 × 1·5, somewhat depressed. Rachilla large, cylindrical and smooth.
L. perenne has no awn, or the merest trace of one. “Seed" 10-12 mm. long. Boat-shaped. Palea yellow, three-nerved, margins papery. Rachilla flat, see p. [143].
✲✲ Awn terminal, and with no evident teeth at its base.
≡ Palea not much inrolled, ovate-lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, and therefore boat-or barge-shaped.
Δ Very hairy.
Brachypodium sylvaticum, Beauv. (Fig. [72]).
Palea ribbed and hirsute much like that of Bromus asper, but straw-coloured, shorter (10-12 mm.), linear-lanceolate, more boat-shaped, and tapering without teeth into the longer (10-13 mm.) hairy awn. Caryopsis 7-8 mm., less flattened than in Bromus, with a shallow groove. Rachilla smooth.
B. pinnatum (p. [171]) has a much shorter awn, and is nearly glabrous.
These grasses are weeds, but are said to occur frequently as adulterants.
ΔΔ Glabrous or nearly so.
++ Palea five-nerved, pubescent.
Agropyrum caninum.
Agropyrum repens is also often awned and may be described here (see also p. [150]).
| Fig. 75. Agropyrum caninum. Type of boat-shaped “seed" with sub-terminal awn. a, nat. size; b, × about 9, but with awn cut short. Rachilla thicker above and hairy; palea not toothed. Nobbe. Cf. Fig. [48]. | Fig. 76. Agropyrum repens. Awned variety. The awn is very short and sub-terminal: the rachilla smooth. a, the "seed," nat. size; b and c, ditto, × about 4-1/2. Boat-shaped "seed" with rounded back. Nobbe. Cf. Fig. [57]. |