Bearded Darnel

Scientific Names

• Lolium temulentum L.

Common Names

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Parts Usually Used

Seed
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Description of Plant(s) and Culture

Bearded darnel is an annual plant; the stiff, round, hollow stalk grows to a height of 1-3 feet and bears long, linear, flat leaves that are rolled up when young. The flowers grow on a terminal spike consisting of 5-7 flowered spikelets, each of which is embraced along almost its full length by a bract. Long, stiff bristles point upward from the flowers. The seed is small, yellow-brown to orange-brown, ovate, and somewhat compressed.
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Where Found

Grows as a hated weed in grain fields, waste places, moist farm fields, and along roadsides.
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Uses

Used long ago to treat dizziness, insomnia, and stomach problems. Also, externally, applied as a poultice; skin problems like shingles, scurf, gangrene, ulcers, and sores.
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Warning

Poisonous in large quantities. Not to be used without medical supervision.

There are nonpoisonous remedies that are available for all its uses, both internal and external.
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Bibliography

Culpeper’s Complete Herbal & English Physician: Updated With 117 Modern Herbs, by Nicholas Culpeper, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, 1990, (reprint of 1814)

The Herb Book, by John Lust, Bantam Books, 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY. copyright 1974.

Webster’s New World Dictionary, Third College Edition, Victoria Neufeldt, Editor in Chief, New World Dictionaries: A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc., 15 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10023

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