Lolium perenne L.
perennial ryegrass (English ryegrass)
Poaceae (Grass family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
perennial ryegrass (English ryegrass)
Poaceae (Grass family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
Species Information
General:
Tufted, short-lived perennial grass from rhizomes with some vegetative shoots; stems erect, to 100 cm tall.
Leaves:
Sheaths smooth; blades flat, folded in young shoots, usually smooth, (1) 2-4 (6) mm wide; ear-shaped lobes at leaf-bases sickle-shaped (rarely lacking); ligules 0.5-2 mm long.
Flowers:
Inflorescence a spike with 5 to 37, 2-ranked, solitary spikelets, 3-30 cm long; spikelets (2-) 5- to 9- (10-) flowered, unstalked, 5-22 mm long, 1-7 mm wide, all but the terminal ones with 1 glume; glumes 3.5-15 mm long, (1/3) 1/2-3/4 (to slightly exceeding) the length of the spikelets; lemmas (3.5) 5-9 mm long, 0.8-2 mm wide, unawned, or if awned, the awns to about 8 mm long, attached about 0.2-0.7 mm below the tips; anthers 2-4.2 mm long.
Notes:
A commercially important species as a popular turf grass and stablizer. On a world-wide basis it is perhaps the single most important forage grass. Since Lolium perenne and L. multiflorum are interfertile and intergrade, they are sometimes considered conspecific. Hybrids between the two species are called Lolium x hybridum Hausskn.
Illustration
If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.
Illustration Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia
USDA Species Characteristics
Flower Colour:
Yellow
Blooming Period:
Mid Spring
Fruit/Seed characteristics:
Colour: Brown
Present from Spring to Summer
Source: The USDA
Ecology
Ecological Framework for Lolium perenne
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from
original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range.
(Updated August, 2013)
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from
original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range.
(Updated August, 2013)
| Site Information |
Value / Class |
||
|
Avg |
Min |
Max |
|
| Elevation
(metres) |
843 | 30 | 1280 |
| Slope
Gradient (%) |
20 | 0 | 80 |
|
Aspect (degrees) |
296 | 80 | 330 |
| Soil
Moisture Regime (SMR) [0 - very xeric; 4 - mesic; 8 - hydric] |
3 | 2 | 6 |
| Modal
Nutrient Regime
Class |
D | ||
| #
of field plots species was recorded in: |
49 | ||
| Modal
BEC Zone Class |
IDF | ||
|
All BEC Zones (# of stations/zone) species was recorded in |
CDF(1), ICH(1), IDF(4), PP(1) | ||
|
Source:
Klinkenberg 2013
|
|||
Habitat and Range
Mesic to moist pastures, fields, meadows, roadsides and disturbed areas in the lowland, steppe and montane zones; rare in SW and SC BC; introduced from Eurasia.Status Information
Synonyms
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Lolium multiflorum var. ramosum Guss. ex Arcang.
Lolium perenne
Lolium perenne var. cristatum Pers. ex B.D. Jacks.