Lolium multiflorum, Lam.

Tutin, T. G., Heywood, V. H., Burges, N. A., Moore, D. M., Valentine, D. H., Walters, S. M. & Webb, D. A., 1980, Flora Europaea. Volume 5. Alismataceae to Orchidaceae (Monocotyledones), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press : 154

2. L. multiflorum Lam. , Fl. Fr. 3: 621 (1779)

( L. italicum A. Braun ).

Annual, biennial or short-lived perennial up to 130 cm; stems with 4-5 nodes. Leaf-blades 11-22 cm x 3-8 mm, acute to obtuse, glabrous and shiny beneath, usually scabridulous above, convolute in young shoots; ligule up to 4 mm; auricles usually present. Spike 15—33(—45) cm. Rhachis slender, flexuous, scabridulous. Spikelets 8-31 x 2-10 mm, with (5—) 11—22 florets. Glumes lanceolate to narrowly oblong, |- i(- i) as long as the spikelet. Lemma oblong to oblong-lanceolate, usually awned, not turgid at maturity; awn up to 15 mm. Mature caryopsis more than 3 times as long as wide. 2« = 14. S. Europe; widely cultivated for forage elsewhere and naturalized in meadows and on roadsides and field-margins (Italian ryegrass). Al Az BI Bu Co Cr Ga Gr Hs It Ju Lu Rm Sa Si Tu [Au Be Br Cz Da Fe Ge Hb He Ho Hu No Po Rs (C, W, K) Su].

Hybridizes freely with 1, 3 (L. x hubbardii Jansen & Wächter), 4 and 5.