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''Lolium temulentum'', typically known as darnel, poison darnel, darnel ryegrass or cockle, is an annual plant of the genus ''
Darnel usually grows in the same production zones as wheat and was a serious weed of cultivation until modern sorting machinery enabled darnel seeds to be separated efficiently from seed wheat. The similarity between these two plants is so great that in some regions, darnel is referred to as "false wheat". It bears a close resemblance to wheat until the ear appears. The spikes of ''L. temulentum'' are more slender than those of wheat. The spikelets are oriented edgeways to the rachis and have only a single glume, while those of wheat are oriented with the flat side to the rachis and have two glumes. Wheat will appear brown when ripe, whereas darnel is black.
Darnel can be infected by an
The ancient Greek botanist Theophrastus stated in his ''De causis plantarum'' (8:7 §1) that wheat can transform (''metaballein'') into darnel (''aira''), since fields sown to wheat are often darnel when reaped.
* Darnel is mentioned in
"Wheat’s Evil Twin Has Been Intoxicating Humans For Centuries"
Atlas Obscura, March 22, 2016 {{Taxonbar, from=Q162088 Pooideae Medicinal plants Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Flora of Malta
Lolium
''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 ...
'' within 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 the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns an ...
. The plant stem can grow up to one meter tall, with inflorescence in the ears and purple grain. It has a Cosmopolitan distribution
In biogeography, cosmopolitan distribution is the term for the range of a taxon that extends across all or most of the world in appropriate habitats. Such a taxon, usually a species, is said to exhibit cosmopolitanism or cosmopolitism. The ext ...
.
Growth
Darnel usually grows in the same production zones as wheat and was a serious weed of cultivation until modern sorting machinery enabled darnel seeds to be separated efficiently from seed wheat. The similarity between these two plants is so great that in some regions, darnel is referred to as "false wheat". It bears a close resemblance to wheat until the ear appears. The spikes of ''L. temulentum'' are more slender than those of wheat. The spikelets are oriented edgeways to the rachis and have only a single glume, while those of wheat are oriented with the flat side to the rachis and have two glumes. Wheat will appear brown when ripe, whereas darnel is black.
Darnel can be infected by an endophytic
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 dat ...
fungus of the genus '' Neotyphodium'' and the endophyte-produced, insecticidal loline alkaloid
A loline alkaloid is a member of the 1-aminopyrrolizidines (often referred to as lolines), which are bioactive natural products with several distinct biological and chemical features. The lolines are insecticidal and insect-deterrent compounds t ...
s were first isolated from this plant.
The French word for darnel is ''ivraie'' (from Latin ''ebriacus'', intoxicated), which expresses the drunken nausea from eating the infected plant, which can be fatal. The French name echoes the scientific name, Latin ''temulentus'' "drunk."
Literary references
The ancient Greek botanist Theophrastus stated in his ''De causis plantarum'' (8:7 §1) that wheat can transform (''metaballein'') into darnel (''aira''), since fields sown to wheat are often darnel when reaped.
* Darnel is mentioned in Horace
Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 – 27 November 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his ' ...
's Satire 2.6 (eaten by the Country mouse while he serves his guest fancier foods)
* Darnel may have been the plant in the Parable of the Tares in the Gospel of Matthew:
* In ordering the St. Brice's Day massacre of all the Danes in England, Æthelred the Unready observed that "all the Danes who had sprung up in this island, sprouting like cockle amongst the wheat, were to be destroyed by a most just extermination."
* Darnel is also mentioned as a weed in Shakespeare's ''King Lear'',
* Darnel is one of the many ingredients in mithridate, which Mithridates
Mithridates or Mithradates ( Old Persian 𐎷𐎡𐎰𐎼𐎭𐎠𐎫 ''Miθradāta'') is the Hellenistic form of an Iranian theophoric name, meaning "given by the Mithra". Its Modern Persian form is Mehrdad. It may refer to:
Rulers
*Of Cius (al ...
, the king of ancient Pontus, is supposed to have used every day to render him immune to poisoning.
* Darnel is mentioned in the Mishnah in Kilayim (1:1) as זונין (), similar to the Arabic زؤان ().Artscroll Kilayim, June 2012
See also
* '' Bromus tectorum''References
External links
"Wheat’s Evil Twin Has Been Intoxicating Humans For Centuries"
Atlas Obscura, March 22, 2016 {{Taxonbar, from=Q162088 Pooideae Medicinal plants Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Flora of Malta