Weeds
Lolium remotum Schrank - Hardy Ryegrass.
Systematic position.
Family Poaceae (Graminea), genus Lolium L.Biological group.
Annual weed.Morphology and biology.
Plant 20-70 cm in height, yellowish-green. Stalks upright, bare, smooth or weakly rough below ears. Leaf plates flat, smooth, with short ligules. Inflorescence spiciform, straight, to 15 cm in length, with smooth awn. Spikelets are spread, sessile, 8-14 mm in length, with 3 to 7 flowers. Spicate scales shorter than spikelets. Lower spicate scales are blunt, without awn or with short awn. One plant gives to 500 caryopses keeping germinating capacity for 3-5 years. Seeds germinate rapidly at low temperatures, having almost total-lot germination. Shoots appear at the end of May or in the beginning of June. Blossoming in June - July, fructification in July - September.Distribution.
Mainly European species (absent in Arctic regions) known also in Asia Minor. It is introduced to Northern America. In Russia the species is distributed mainly in northern half of the European part, in the zone of coniferous forests; in the zone of mixed and deciduous forests it is known also in the south of the Far East.Ecology.
The Hardy Ryegrass density depends directly on flax crops amount. The zone of flax cultivation is located between 46 and 65 N. In Russia the major crops of flax are located in Non-Chernozem strip, where the Hardy Ryegrass also grows.Economic significance.
The specialized weed of flax crops, littering fields through the soil by self-sowing and through the crude sowing material. Control measures include careful cleaning of the sowing material and deep autumn plowing with deep placement of seeds.Related references.
Gubanov I.A., K.V. Kiseleva, V.S.Novikov, V.N.Tikhomirov. 2002. The illustrated key to plants of Middle Russia. V.1, Moscow: Tovarishchestvo nauchnykh izdanii KMK, Institut tekhnologicheskikh issledovanii, p. 271 (in Russian).Nikitin V.V. 1983. Weed plants of the USSR flora. Leningrad: Nauka. p. 105-106 (in Russian).
Shishkin B.K. (Ed.). 1963. The botanical atlas. Moscow & Leningrad: Izdatel.stvo sel.skokhozyaistvennoi literatury i plakatov, p. 313 (in Russian).
Volkov A.N. 1935. Areas of distribution of the major weed plants in the USSR, Moscow & Leningrad. 152 p. (in Russian).
Zhukovskii P.M. 1950. Cultural plants and their relatives. Moscow: Sovetskaya nauka, p. 500 (in Russian).