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Lolium perenne, common name perennial ryegrass, [1] English ryegrass, winter ryegrass, or ray grass, is a grass from the family Poaceae. It is native to Europe, Asia and northern Africa, but is widely cultivated and naturalised around the world.
Lolium multiflorum (Italian rye-grass, [2] annual ryegrass) is a ryegrass native to temperate Europe, though its precise native range is unknown. [3] It is a herbaceous annual, biennial, or perennial grass that is grown for silage, and as a cover crop. [4] [5] It is also grown as an ornamental grass.
[2] [3] It is often called ryegrass, but this term is sometimes used to refer to grasses in other genera. They are characterized by bunch-like growth habits. Lolium is native to Europe , Asia and northern Africa , as well as being cultivated and naturalized in Australia , the Americas , and various oceanic islands.
The plant form is usually erect but may be prostrate. The stems are often geniculate (with a knee-like bend) and are purplish at the base. The leaves are 5 to 25 cm (2 to 10 in) long, and 3 to 5 mm (0.12 to 0.20 in) wide; the upper surface is glossy dark green, flat and hairless with longitudinal veins, and the underside is shiny and smooth.
The most prominent member of this group is Claviceps purpurea ("rye ergot fungus"). This fungus grows on rye and related plants, and produces alkaloids that can cause ergotism in humans and other mammals who consume grains contaminated with its fruiting structure (called ergot sclerotium). [2] [3]
Rye (Secale cereale) is a grass grown extensively as a grain, a cover crop and a forage crop. It is grown principally in an area from Eastern and Northern Europe into Russia. It is much more tolerant of cold weather and poor soil than other cereals, making it useful in those regions; its vigorous growth suppresses weeds and provides abundant forage for animals early in the yea
While many fruit, nut and forage crops are long-lived perennial plants, all major grain crops presently used in large-scale agriculture are annuals or short-lived perennials grown as annuals. Scientists from several nations have argued that perennial versions of today's grain crops could be developed and that these perennial grains could make ...
Leymus innovatus is a species of grass known as downy ryegrass, boreal wildrye, hairy wildrye, fuzzyspike wildrye, northern wildrye, and northwestern wildrye. It is native to northern North America from Alaska to eastern Canada and south to Colorado .