Lolium perenne
Common name
Perennial rye grass
Family
Poaceae
Flora category
Vascular – Exotic
Structural class
Grasses
NVS code
The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.
LOLPER
Habitat
Terrestrial. Roadsides and tracks, pasture, river flats and banks, waste land and sand dunes, lowland to montane
Features
Loosely tufted, dark green, hairless, perennial grass. Leaves soft, thin, 30-200 x 2-6 mm, regularly ribbed above, very glossy and smooth beneath, joined to stem with small collar. Leaf sheath reddish-purplish at base; inner sheath smooth, pale green; emerging leaf folded. Ligule up to 2 mm long, membranous, light green. Seedhead distinctive, erect, thin, flattened, slightly zigzagged; with seeds in small clusters arranged alternately.
Similar taxa
The seedhead is distinctive with flattened and slightly zig-zag form.
Year naturalised
1855
Origin
Eur, temp Asia, N Afr
Reason For Introduction
Agricultural
Life Cycle Comments
Perennial.
Reproduction
Seed
Tolerances
Tolerates wet to dryish soils, high to moderate fertility, can re-sprout after damage and grazing, tolerates warm to cold temperatures.