Perennial Rye-grass - Lolium perenne
Smooth wiry stems and inflorescence spikes 4 to 30 cm long. The stalkless spikelets are arranged along the stem in two opposite and alternating rows, edgeways on to the stem 7 to 20 mm long, flattened, oblong with their narrow edges facing the stem. Lemmas are usually awnless.
Lolium multiflorum - which has awns
Inflorescence a spike with stalkless (sessile), flattened spikelets alternating up the rhachis edgeways-on to it. Young tiller leaves are folded, not rolled. Florets usually have no awns.
Meadows, grassland and waste ground.
May to September.
Perennial.
Very common throughout Britain.
Very common in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 604 of the 617 tetrads.
 Old Fosse Sapcote SP 4920 9144 (taken 23.6.2008).JPG)
Graham Calow
Sapcote
23 June 2008
David Nicholls
Ulverscroft
21 June 2014
Graham Calow
Frolesworth
10 June 2015
AJ Cann
East Goscote Long Furrow Verge
14 June 2021
 Old Fosse Sapcote SP 4920 9144 (taken 23.6.2008).JPG)
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Species profile
- Common names
- Common Rye-Grass, Perennial Rye-grass
- Species group:
- flowering plant
- Kingdom:
- Plantae
- Order:
- Poales
- Family:
- Poaceae
- Records on NatureSpot:
- 374
- First record:
- 01/07/1998 (John Mousley)
- Last record:
- 30/06/2025 (axon, kaye)
Total records by month
% of records within its species group
10km squares with records
The latest images and records displayed below include those awaiting verification checks so we cannot guarantee that every identification is correct. Once accepted, the record displays a green tick.
In the Latest Records section, click on the header to sort A-Z, and again to sort Z-A. Use the header boxes to filter the list.
Latest images
Latest records
Graham Calow
Sapcote, land off Grace Road
12 July 2021
tiller (blade) folded
David Nicholls
Grange Fields, Broughton
05 June 2015 Path to 'Gravel Hole' Sapcote SP 4834 9370 (taken 4.6.2007).JPG)
Graham Calow
Hinckley Road Gravel Pit, Sapcote
04 June 2007
Graham Calow
Sapcote
10 September 2014
Graham Calow
Higham on the Hill
11 June 2015
David Nicholls
Bradgate Park
05 July 2013
Graham Calow
Wykin Canal Towpath
07 June 2015
 Path to 'Gravel Hole' Sapcote SP 4834 9370 (taken 4.6.2007).JPG)
Ergot
Ergot (Claviceps purpurea) is a violet-black spindle-shaped structure longitudinally furrowed, up to 1cm long, and formed in the inflorescences of grasses. The fungal body is described as an ergot kernel.
Choke
Epichloe typhina fungus galls the stems of various grasses, the gall often having a rather tubular appearance. It is white in the early stages, yellowing when mature. On various grasses including many of our most common species including Sweet Vernal-grass, False Oat-grass, Cock's-foot, Perennial Rye-grass, Wood Millet, Timothy and Rough Meadow-grass.