European regional assessment: Least Concern (LC)
EU 27 regional assessment: Least Concern (LC)

Lolium temulentum is regionally assessed as Least Concern as it is widely distributed throughout much of Europe and can grow in a range of disturbed anthropogenic habitats. The overall population trend is unknown but there are reported declines which are thought to be largely due to the use of herbicides. It is Extinct in the Wild in Hungary and nationally threatened in some other European countries; therefore, national level monitoring is needed.

The origin of Lolium temulentum remains a matter of debate. Many authors assume the original occurrence of the species in the Mediterranean and southwest Asia from where it spread as a weed of cereals to all of Europe, central and southern Africa, eastern Asia, Australia, New Zealand and America (Eliáš Jr. et al. 2010).

According to Valdés and Scholz; with contributions from Raab-Straube and Parolly (2009), this species is native to the Azores and the Canary Islands; however, it is recorded by Silva et al. (2005) as introduced to the Azores and by Izquierdo et al. (2004) as of uncertain origin in the Canary Islands.

Knowledge of its national distribution in Europe is available for the following countries:

• Slovakia: c.100 localities have been recorded in the past throughout the country. Recently, the species was confirmed at five localities in the north and northeast near the Slovak-Poland border: 1) Rabča, oat field; 2) Zubrohlava NNW, oat field; 3) Zubrohlava SE, oat field; (4) Lesnica, rye fields in the northern part of the village; 5) Lesnica, gap of Lesnica, eastern slope, rye field (Eliáš Jr. et al. 2010).
• Greece: widespread.
• Belarus: present in the whole country.
• Cyprus: widespread.
• Hungary: Extinct in the Wild (Király 2007).
• France: widespread; occurs in the majority of departments throughout the country (Association Tela Botanica 2000–2010).
  

This species is frequent in Greece but not common in Belarus. However, in both countries, the population is reported to be stable. The species is rare in Lithuania.

Further research is needed to gather information about the population size and trend of this species throughout the rest of its range.

This annual weedy species is usually mentioned as a characteristic member of segetal vegetation, but it also occurs in other ruderal habitats, such as fallow fields, waste places and roadsides.

In Slovakia, it was regarded as a diagnostic taxon of class Stellarietea mediae, subclass Violenea arvensis, but the species was also found sporadically in ruderal vegetation of Atriplici-Chenopodietalia albi (Eliáš Jr. et al. 2010).

According to Meikle (1985), in Cyprus, as well as occurring in cultivated and fallow fields, this species can sometimes be found growing in pine forest at high altitudes. It can grow from sea level to 5,400 ft (Meikle 1985).

Until a few decades ago, L. temulentum had a significant impact as a weed in Europe, but due to enhanced seed cleaning techniques and herbicide application the distribution area of the species has decreased significantly (Eliáš Jr. et al. 2010).

In Greece, herbicides are a potential threat but they are not affecting the subpopulations yet. Herbicide tolerance has been measured in some biotypes.

L. temulentum is used for forage and fodder; wild populations may harbour important genetic diversity for crop improvement.

The seeds of this species are very nutritious and used to be used for making bread. However, it is not advisable to eat it because sometimes it can be infected with an endophytic fungus Endoconidium temulentum, which is assumed to be the source of the toxic pyrrolizidine alkaloids. As the ancient and traditional agricultural practices could not separate seeds of L. temulentum from those of wheat or rye, in the past the infected seeds often used to poison the flour. This fungal infection causes hallucinations in small doses and can, in larger quantities, cause severe damage to the nervous system (Eliáš Jr. et al. 2010). Slovenian ethnical groups living in western Hungary reportedly mixed the seeds of L. temulentum with those of barley to enhance the narcotic effects of beer. L. temulentum was already mentioned in the Bible; in some regions it was so abundant that it devastated the total yields of cereals and became the symbol of disaster (Pinke and Pál 2005).

Lolium temulentum is listed in Annex I of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.

It is listed as Critically Endangered in Slovakia (Eliáš Jr. et al. 2010), Great Britain (Cheffings and Farrell 2006) and Switzerland (Moser et al. 2002).

It is Extinct in the Wild in Hungary and reintroduction trials are being carried out (Király 2007).

EURISCO reports 197 germplasm accessions of L. temulentum held in European genebanks, 121 of which are reported to be of wild or weedy origin. Of the wild accessions, 23 originate from within Europe (EURISCO Catalogue 2010).