Lolium rigidumGaudin

Wimmera ryegrass

WFO wfo-0000878467 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Lolium rigidum, photographed by Eleftherios Katsillis
fig. a Eleftherios Katsillis, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-04-29 / obs. 191779540
Lolium rigidum, photographed by Eleftherios Katsillis
fig. b Eleftherios Katsillis, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 190815384
Lolium rigidum, photographed by James K. Douch
fig. c James K. Douch, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 164860189
Lolium rigidum, photographed by Kym Nicolson
fig. d Kym Nicolson, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 132825710
Lolium rigidum, photographed by Thomas Mesaglio
fig. e Thomas Mesaglio, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 106628998
Lolium rigidum, photographed by Paul Bell-Butler
fig. f Paul Bell-Butler, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 55160859
Lolium rigidum, photographed by hecklemore
fig. g hecklemore, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 191041887
Lolium rigidum, photographed by spacegecko
fig. h spacegecko, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 164671784

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 45 botanical countries

Regions where Lolium rigidum is native: Algeria, Canary Is., Egypt, Libya, Madeira, Mauritania, Morocco, Selvagens, Tunisia, Western Sahara, Afghanistan, China North-Central, China Southeast, Cyprus, East Aegean Is., Gulf States, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon-Syria, North Caucasus, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, Turkmenistan, Yemen, Pakistan, West Himalaya, Albania, Bulgaria, Corse, France, Greece, Italy, Kriti, Krym, NW. Balkan Pen., Portugal, Romania, Sardegna, Sicilia, Spain, Switzerland, Türkiye-in-Europe AlgeriaEgyptLibyaMauritaniaMoroccoSelvagensTunisiaWestern SaharaAfghanistanChina North-CentralChina SoutheastCyprusEast Aegean Is.Gulf StatesIranIraqKuwaitLebanon-SyriaNorth CaucasusPalestineSaudi ArabiaTranscaucasusTürkiyeTurkmenistanYemenPakistanWest HimalayaAlbaniaBulgariaCorseFranceGreeceItalyKritiKrymNW. Balkan Pen.PortugalRomaniaSiciliaSpainSwitzerlandTürkiye-in-Europe Canary Is.MadeiraSardegna
Native distribution of Lolium rigidum, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Afghanistan AFG ASIA-TEMPERATE
China North-Central CHN
China Southeast CHS
Cyprus CYP
East Aegean Is. EAI
Gulf States GST
Iran IRN
Iraq IRQ
Kuwait KUW
Lebanon-Syria LBS
North Caucasus NCS
Palestine PAL
Saudi Arabia SAU
Transcaucasus TCS
Türkiye TUR
Turkmenistan TKM
Yemen YEM
Albania ALB EUROPE
Bulgaria BUL
Corse COR
France FRA
Greece GRC
Italy ITA
Kriti KRI
Krym KRY
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Portugal POR
Romania ROM
Sardegna SAR
Sicilia SIC
Spain SPA
Switzerland SWI
Türkiye-in-Europe TUE
Algeria ALG AFRICA
Canary Is. CNY
Egypt EGY
Libya LBY
Madeira MDR
Mauritania MTN
Morocco MOR
Selvagens SEL
Tunisia TUN
Western Sahara WSA
Pakistan PAK ASIA-TROPICAL
West Himalaya WHM

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Where it actually grows measured, from 411 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low 0.2 °C 5.9 °C 11.1 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 21.8 °C 26.8 °C 32.8 °C
Annual rainfall 360 mm 684 mm 1,273 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 2 mm 84 mm 215 mm

It is found where winters are cool but frost is light or absent. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 411 research-grade observations of Lolium rigidum that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one.

Also published as 59 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Arthrochortus loliaceus Lowe
  • Crypturus loliaceus (Bory & Chaub.) Link
  • Festuca aleppica Hochst. ex Steud.
  • Lolium arenarium Rouville
  • Lolium arvense var. rigidum (Gaudin) Laterr.
  • Lolium crassiculme Rech.f.
  • Lolium cylindricum K.Koch
  • Lolium durum K.Koch
  • Lolium flagellare Spruner ex Boiss.
  • Lolium humile Rouy
  • Lolium husnotii Sennen
  • Lolium lepturoides Boiss.
  • Lolium loliaceum (Bory & Chaub.) Hand.-Mazz.
  • Lolium lowei Menezes
  • Lolium macilentum Delastre
  • Lolium multiflorum var. lepturoides (Boiss.) Trab.
  • Lolium multiflorum var. muticum DC.
  • Lolium multiflorum var. rigidum (Gaudin) Trab.
  • Lolium parabolicae Sennen
  • Lolium perenne subsp. rigidum (Gaudin) Á.Löve & D.Löve
  • Lolium perenne var. rigidum (Gaudin) Coss. & Durieu
  • Lolium phoenice Rouville
  • Lolium rigidum subsp. maroccanum Sennen & Mauricio
  • Lolium rigidum subsp. negevense Feinbrun

and 35 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.