This is closely related to perenne, and also widely planted in North America. It was first introduced into Ky. for trials a century ago (Gm), but did not become widely used until the 1930s or later (Anderson 1924; B). Several records mapped here are probably derived from plantings. L. multiflorum can hybridize and intergrade with perenne (FNA 24); 2n = 14 in all Lolium (the base number in Poeae). L. multiflorum differs in its more numerous florets per spikelets (10-22 versus 2-10), and the lemmas usually with longer awns (up to 15 mm versus 8 mm). Also, leaf blades tend to be wider (mostly 3-8 mm versus 2-4 mm), and plants are usually annual (versus perennial).