Lolium perenne var. perenne L. Perennial Ryegrass Habit: Short-lived perennial. Culms: 30-60 cm. tall, smooth, simple, erect, tufted. Blades: 5-12 cm. tall, smooth, simple, erect, tufted. Sheaths: About as long or longer than the internodes, flattened, auriculate at the base, loose above, rough or smooth. Ligule: Membranous, about 1 mm. long. Inflorescence: Terminal 2-ranked spikes 10-25 cm. long, somewhat curved. Spikelets: 6-10-flowered, 10-14 mm. long, flattened, solitary in alternate notches of the continuous rachis, one edge fitting to the alternate concavities, rachilla disarticulating above the glumes and between the florets. Glumes: First, next to the rachis, wanting except in the terminal spikelet and rarely in 1 or 2 spikelets in a spike, the second outward, rigid, strongly 3-5-nerved, equaling or exceeding the second floret, 6-12 mm. long. Lemmas: 4-7 mm. long, rounded on the back, 5-nerved, thin, obtuse, awnless or nearly so. Palea: About as long as its lemma, elliptic, acute, hyaline, the nerves near the ciliate margins. Habitat: Waste placed and cultivated ground. May-August. Kansas Range: Throughout. Use: Cultivated in meadows, pastures and lawns. Remarks: Occasionally with delicate awns resembling L. multiflorum. Synonyms: Lolium perenne L. ssp. perenne Lolium multiflorum Lam. var. ramosum Guss. ex Arcang. Lolium perenne L. var. cristatum Pers. ex B.D. Jackson