''Lolium'' is a genus of

tufted grass Tussock grasses or bunch grasses are a group of grass species in the family Poaceae. They usually grow as singular plants in clumps, tufts, hummocks, or bunches, rather than forming a sod or lawn, in meadows, grasslands, and prairies. As perenn ...

es in the bluegrass subfamily (Pooideae). 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 Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

and northern

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

, as well as being cultivated and naturalized in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country b ...

, the

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with t ...

, and various oceanic islands. Ryegrasses are naturally

diploid Ploidy () is the number of complete sets of chromosomes in a cell, and hence the number of possible alleles for autosomal and pseudoautosomal genes. Sets of chromosomes refer to the number of maternal and paternal chromosome copies, respectiv ...

, with 2n=14, and are closely related to the

fescue ''Festuca'' (fescue) is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the grass family Poaceae (subfamily Pooideae). They are evergreen or herbaceous perennial tufted grasses with a height range of and a cosmopolitan distribution, occurring on ...

s (''Festuca''). Ryegrass should not be confused with rye, which is a grain crop.

Species

Species of ''Lolium'' include: * '' Lolium arundinaceum'' (Schreb.) Darbysh. - Eurasia + North Africa from Portugal + Canary Islands to Himalayas +

Xinjiang Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwes ...

; naturalized in East Asia, Australia, North + South America, various islands * '' Lolium canariense'' Steud. - Canary Islands ryegrass - Canary Islands, Cape Verde * '' Lolium giganteum '' Lam. - Eurasia from Ireland to China;

Bioko Bioko (; historically Fernando Po; bvb, Ëtulá Ëria) is an island off the west coast of Africa and the northernmost part of Equatorial Guinea. Its population was 335,048 at the 2015 census and it covers an area of . The island is located of ...

* '' Lolium hybridum'' Hausskn. - Assam, Bhutan - Intermediate ryegrass * '' Lolium mazzettianum'' (E.B.Alexeev) Darbysh. - Sichuan, Yunnan * '' Lolium multiflorum'' Lam. - Eurasia + North Africa from Portugal + Canary Islands to Himalayas; naturalized in East Asia, Australia, North + South America, various islands * ''

Lolium perenne ''Lolium perenne'', common name perennial ryegrass, 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. ...

'' L. - perennial ryegrass - Eurasia + North Africa from Azores to Kashmir; naturalized in East Asia, Australia, North + South America, various islands * '' Lolium persicum'' Boiss. & Hohen. - Persian ryegrass or Persian darnel - from

Socotra Socotra or Soqotra (; ar, سُقُطْرَىٰ ; so, Suqadara) is an island of the Republic of Yemen in the Indian Ocean, under the ''de facto'' control of the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council, a secessionist participant in Yemen ...

to China; naturalized in scattered locations in the United States + Canada * '' Lolium pratense'' (Huds.) Darbysh. - Eurasia + North Africa from Iceland + Azores to Kashmir +

Yakutia Sakha, officially the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia),, is the largest republic of Russia, located in the Russian Far East, along the Arctic Ocean, with a population of roughly 1 million. Sakha comprises half of the area of its governing Far E ...

; naturalized in East Asia, Australia, North + South America, various islands * '' Lolium remotum'' Schrank - Indian Subcontinent; sparingly naturalized in scattered locations in Europe + northern Asia * ''

Lolium rigidum ''Lolium rigidum'' is a species of annual grass. Common names by which it is known include annual ryegrass, a name also given to Italian ryegrass (''Lolium multiflorum''), rigid ryegrass, stiff darnel, Swiss ryegrass and Wimmera ryegrass. It is ...

'' Gaudin - stiff darnel, Wimmera ryegrass, annual ryegrass - Eurasia + North Africa from Portugal + Canary Islands to China; sparingly naturalized in scattered locations in Australia + Americas * '' Lolium saxatile H.Scholz & S.Scholz - Canary Islands * ''

Lolium temulentum ''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 pu ...

'' L. - Darnel, poison darnel - Eurasia + North Africa from Portugal + Canary Islands to China; sparingly naturalized in scattered locations in Australia + Americas ; Formerly included Several former ''Lolium'' species now regarded as part of other genera: '' Castellia'', '' Enteropogon'', '' × Festulolium'', '' Hainardia'', '' Lepturus'', '' Melica'', and '' Vulpia''. File:Perennial Ryegrass.jpg, Perennial ryegrass, used as winter lawn. File:Illustration Leymus arenarius and Lolium temulentum0.jpg, Poison darnel (''Lolium temulentum'')

Cultivation and uses

''Lolium'' contains some species which are important grasses for

lawn A lawn is an area of soil-covered land planted with grasses and other durable plants such as clover which are maintained at a short height with a lawnmower (or sometimes grazing animals) and used for aesthetic and recreational purposes. ...

s, and as

pasture Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep, or ...

and for grazing and hay for

livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animals ...

, being a highly nutritious stock feed. Ryegrasses are also used in

soil Soil, also commonly referred to as earth or dirt, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, liquids, and organisms that together support life. Some scientific definitions distinguish ''dirt'' from ''soil'' by restricting the former ...

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is di ...

control programs. It is the principal grazing grass in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island country ...

where some 10 million kilograms of certified seed are produced every year. There is a large range of

cultivar A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture, ...

s. The primary species found worldwide and used both for lawns and as a forage crop is perennial ryegrass (''Lolium perenne''). Like many cool-season grasses of the Poaceae, it harbors a symbiotic fungal

endophyte An endophyte is an endosymbiont, often a bacterium or fungus, that lives within a plant for at least part of its life cycle without causing apparent disease. Endophytes are ubiquitous and have been found in all species of plants studied to date ...

, either ''

Epichloë ''Epichloë'' is a genus of ascomycete fungi forming an endophytic symbiosis with grasses. Grass choke disease is a symptom in grasses induced by some ''Epichloë'' species, which form spore-bearing mats ( stromata) on tillers and suppress the ...

'' or its close relative '' Neotyphodium'', both of which are members of the fungal family

Clavicipitaceae The Clavicipitaceae are a family of fungi within the order Hypocreales. A 2008 estimate placed 43 genera in the family, but recent work has increased this number to 97. Phylogeny Molecular phylogenetic analysis of multigene DNA sequence dat ...

. Some species, particularly ''L. temulentum'', are

weed A weed is a plant considered undesirable in a particular situation, "a plant in the wrong place", or a plant growing where it is not wanted.Harlan, J. R., & deWet, J. M. (1965). Some thoughts about weeds. ''Economic botany'', ''19''(1), 16-24. ...

s which can have a severe impact on the production of wheat and other crops. Annual ryegrass (''L. rigidum'') is one of the most serious and costly weeds of cropping systems in southern Australia, and herbicide resistance is a frequent problem. Ryegrass

pollen Pollen is a powdery substance produced by seed plants. It consists of pollen grains (highly reduced microgametophytes), which produce male gametes (sperm cells). Pollen grains have a hard coat made of sporopollenin that protects the gametoph ...

is also one of the major causes of

hay fever Allergic rhinitis, of which the seasonal type is called hay fever, is a type of inflammation in the nose that occurs when the immune system overreacts to allergens in the air. Signs and symptoms include a runny or stuffy nose, sneezing, red, i ...

Tennis court A tennis court is the venue where the sport of tennis is played. It is a firm rectangular surface with a low net stretched across the centre. The same surface can be used to play both doubles and singles matches. A variety of surfaces can be u ...

s, including those at the

All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, also known as the All England Club, based at Church Road, Wimbledon, London, England, is a private members' club. It is best known as the venue for the Wimbledon Championships, the only Grand Slam ...

, the venue for Wimbledon, are planted with ryegrass.

Glyphosate Glyphosate ( IUPAC name: ''N''-(phosphonomethyl)glycine) is a broad-spectrum systemic herbicide and crop desiccant. It is an organophosphorus compound, specifically a phosphonate, which acts by inhibiting the plant enzyme 5-enolpyruvylshi ...

-resistant ''Lolium'' has been reported from Mississippi in 2006.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q158509 Pooideae Poaceae genera Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus