Darnel Ryegrass

Nile region, Oases, Mediterranean region, eastern desert and Sinai.

Mediterranean region and southwest Asia, but widely introduced as a weed in other parts of Europe, Africa, and to all other continents.

In Great Britain and/or Ireland:
Foodplant / parasite
Blumeria graminis parasitises live Lolium temulentum

Foodplant / pathogen
partly hidden sorus of Tilletia lolii infects and damages live spikelet of Lolium temulentum

This is a noxious arable weed, widespread and naturalized in warm-temperate parts of the world (Darnel). The grains are often infected by a fungus (ergot) which produces the alkaloid temulin, causing poisoning when grazed by cattle or when present as a contaminant of flour.

Awnless or weakly awned variants can be distinguished at varietal rank.

Found throughout its range as a weed of grain crops and is sometimes poisonous to stock. Variants with awnless or short-awned lemmas have been called var. arvense Liljeblad, Svensk Fl., ed. 3, 80. 1816.

In the plains up to 2000 m.

Annual. Culms tufted, erect or decumbent, slender to moderately robust, 20–120 cm tall, 3–5-noded. Leaf blades flat, thin, 10–25 cm × 4–10 mm, smooth or scabridulous on abaxial surface, margins scabrid, young blades rolled; auricles present or absent; ligule 0.5–2.5 mm, obtuse to truncate. Raceme stiff, straight, 10–30 cm; rachis thick, smooth or scabridulous, spikelets about their own length apart. Spikelets turgid, 0.8–2.5 cm, florets 4–10, rachilla internodes 1–1.5 mm, smooth, glabrous; glume linear-oblong, rigid, as long as spikelet, often exceeding florets, 5–9-veined, margins narrowly membranous, apex obtuse; lemmas elliptic to ovate, turgid at maturity, 5.2–8.5 mm, apex obtuse; awn usually present, stiff, scabrid; palea ciliolate along keels. Caryopsis very plump, length 2–3 times width, 4–7 mm. Fl. and fr. May–Aug. 2n = 14.

Annual; culms 20-120 cm high, tufted or solitary, erect or geniculate at the base, slender to moderately stout. Leaf-blades 6-25(-40) cm long, 3-12 mm wide, flat, with short spreading auricles at the base. Spikes erect, 5-40 cm long, rigid, the spikelets their own length or more apart. Spikelets 8-28 mm long, 2-10(-15)-flowered; upper glume 7-30 mm long, 0.75-1.5 times the length of the spikelet, 7-9(-11)-nerved, obtuse; lemmas elliptic to ovate, 4.6-8.5 mm long, smooth, obtuse, very turgid at maturity, awnless or with an awn up to 23 mm long.

Mediterranean region and introduced elsewhere.

Distribution: Pakistan (Baluchistan, Punjab, N.W.F.P. & Kashmir); perhaps native in the Mediterranean region and Southwest Asia; widely introduced elsewhere.

900 m

Fl. & Fr. Per.: April-August.

Fields of cereals, introduced. Anhui, Gansu, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hunan, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shanghai, Xinjiang, Zhejiang [N Africa, SW Asia, S Europe].

Annuals, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems erect or ascending, Stems geniculate, decumbent, or lax, sometimes rooting at nodes, Stems solitary, Stems caespitose, tufted, or clustered, Stems terete, round in cross section, or polygonal, Stem internodes hollow, Stems with inflorescence less than 1 m tall, Stems, culms, or scapes exceeding basal leaves, Leaves mostly basal, below middle of stem, Leaves mostly cauline, Leaves conspicuously 2-ranked, distichous, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf sheath mostly open, or loose, Leaf sheath smooth, glabrous, Leaf sheath and blade differentiated, Leaf blades linear, Leaf blade auriculate, Leaf blades 2-10 mm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, Leaf blades scabrous, roughened, or wrinkled, Ligule present, Ligule an unfringed eciliate membrane, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence simple spikes, Inflorescence solitary, with 1 spike, fascicle, glomerule, head, or cluster per stem or culm, Inflorescence branches more than 10 to numerous, Flowers bisexual, Spikelets sessile or subsessile, Spikelets laterally compressed, Spikelet less than 3 mm wide, Spikelets with 3-7 florets, Spikelets with 8-40 florets, Spikelets solitary at rachis nodes, Spikelets bisexual, Spikelets disarticulat ing above the glumes, glumes persistent, Spikelets closely appressed or embedded in concave portions of axis, Rachilla or pedicel glabrous, Glumes present, empty bracts, Glumes 1 clearly present, the other greatly reduced or absent, Glumes distinctly unequal, Glumes equal to or longer than adjacent lemma, Glume equal to or longer than spikelet, Glumes 3 nerved, Glumes 4-7 nerved, Glumes 8-15 nerved, Lemmas thin, chartaceous, hyaline, cartilaginous, or membranous, Lemma coriaceous, firmer or thicker in texture than the glumes, Lemma 3 nerved, Lemma 5-7 nerved, Lemma glabrous, Lemma apex truncate, rounded, or obtuse, Lemma awnless, Lemma with 1 awn, Lemma awn less than 1 cm long, Lemma awn 1-2 cm long, Lemma awn subapical or dorsal, Lemma margins thin, lying flat, Lemma straight, Palea present, well developed, Palea membranous, hyaline, Palea about equal to lemma, Palea keels winged, scabrous, or ciliate, Stamens 3, Styles 2-fid, deeply 2-branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis , Caryopsis ellipsoid, longitudinally grooved, hilum long-linear.

Lolium temulentum, typically known as darnel, poison darnel, darnel ryegrass or cockle, is an annual plant of the genus Lolium within the family Poaceae. The plant stem can grow up to one meter tall, with inflorescence in the ears and purple grain. It has a cosmopolitan distribution.