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 perennia ...
es in the
bluegrass subfamily
The Pooideae are the largest subfamily of the grass family Poaceae, with about 4,000 species in 15 tribes and roughly 200 genera. They include some major cereals such as wheat, barley, oat, rye and many lawn and pasture grasses. They are often ...
(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 subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
,
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 are ...
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, 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 th ...
, and various oceanic islands. Ryegrasses are naturally diploid, with 2n=14, and are closely related to the fescues (''Festuca'').
Ryegrass should not be confused with rye, which is a grain crop.
Species
Species of ''Lolium'' include:
* ''
Lolium arundinaceum
''Festuca arundinacea'' ( syn., ''Schedonorus arundinaceus'' and ''Lolium arundinaceum'') is a species of grass commonly known as tall fescue. It is a cool-season perennial C3 species of bunchgrass native to Europe. It is an important forage gr ...
'' (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 northwest ...
; naturalized in East Asia, Australia, North + South America, various islands
* ''
Lolium canariense
''Lolium'' is a genus of tufted grasses 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 ...
Lolium giganteum
''Festuca gigantea'', or giant fescue, is a plant species in the grass family, Poaceae. Because this and other members of ''Festuca'' subgenus ''Schedonorus'' have more in common morphologically with members of the genus '' Lolium'' than with ' ...
'' 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
''Lolium'' is a genus of tufted grasses 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 ...
Lolium mazzettianum
''Lolium'' is a genus of tufted grasses 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'' i ...
'' (E.B.Alexeev) Darbysh. - Sichuan, Yunnan
* ''
Lolium multiflorum
''Lolium multiflorum'' (Italian rye-grass, annual ryegrass) is a ryegrass native to temperate Europe, though its precise native range is unknown.
It is a herbaceous annual, biennial, or perennial grass that is grown for silage, and as a cover ...
'' 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
''Lolium persicum'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Poaceae. It is referred to by the common names Persian darnel or Persian ryegrass, and is an annual grass. It has an upright stem, branching from a reddish base, up to 45 cm ...
'' 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
''Festuca pratensis'', the meadow fescue, is a perennial species of grass, which is often used as an ornamental grass in gardens, and is also an important forage crop.
It grows in meadows, roadsides, old pastures, and riversides on moist, rich ...
'' (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
''Lolium remotum'' is a species of grass in the family Poaceae
Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and th ...
'' 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
''Lolium'' is a genus of tufted grasses 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 ...
H.Scholz & S.Scholz - Canary Islands
* '' Lolium temulentum'' 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
''Castellia'' is a genus of African and Eurasian plants in the grass family. The only known species is ''Castellia tuberculosa'', native to southern Europe (Spain, Sardinia, Greece), northern and northeastern Africa (Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Tuni ...
'', ''
Enteropogon
''Enteropogon'' is a genus of tropical and subtropical plants in the grass family. It is widespread across many parts of Asia, Africa, Australia, the Americas, and various islands.× Festulolium'', ''
Hainardia
''Hainardia'' is a genus of coastal plants in the grass family, native to the Mediterranean Basin.
The only known species is ''Hainardia cylindrica'', known by several common names, including barbgrass, one-glumed hard-grass, and thintail. It ...
'', ''
Lepturus
''Lepturus'' (common name thintail) is a genus of plants in the grass family, native to Asia, Africa, Australia, and various islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
; Species
* '' Lepturus anadabolavensis'' A.Camus - Madagascar
* '' Lepturus a ...
'', ''
Melica
''Melica'' is a genus of perennial grasses known generally as melic or melic grass. They are found in most temperate regions of the world.
Melic grasses are clumping to short-rhizomatous grasses. They have flowering culms up to tall bearing ...
'', 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 sw ...
and for grazing and
hay
Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticat ...
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 animal ...
, being a highly nutritious stock feed. Ryegrasses are also used in
soil
Soil, also commonly referred to as earth or dirt
Dirt is an unclean matter, especially when in contact with a person's clothes, skin, or possessions. In such cases, they are said to become dirty.
Common types of dirt include:
* Debri ...
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 dis ...
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 count ...
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'', 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.
...
(''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; h ...
, 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 t ...
'' or its close relative ''
Neotyphodium
''Neotyphodium'' is a genus of endophytic fungi symbiotic with grasses. It used to contain a number of asexually reproducing species that colonize the leaves of cool-season grasses, but most of them, including the type species '' N. coenophial ...
'', 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 data in ...
.
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 is also one of the major causes of hay fever.
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 Types of tennis match, doubles and singles matches. A variet ...
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, Wimbledon, London, England, is a Gentlemen's club, private members' club. It is best known as the venue for the Wimbledon ...
, 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-enolpyruvylshik ...
-resistant ''Lolium'' has been reported from Mississippi in 2006.
