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