86 LAGURUS. 



(class III. ORQ£U 11^ 



luse, torn ov crenated at the end, broad, ribbed with green, slightly 

 hairy on the edge, as is also the narrower inner valve. Anther small, 

 pale yellow. Sti/l<> short. Seed ovate, attenuated at each end. After 

 flowering, the plant remains for some time, and becomes bleached, and 

 not unfrequently may be observed blouing about on the loose sand. 



Habitat. — On sandy sea-coasts, frequent ; sometimes it is found in 

 sandy situations inland, as " on Swaff hara and Newmarket heaths," 



Annual; flowering from May to July. 



GENUS XXI. LAGU'RUS. Linn. Harc's-tail-(jrass. 



Gen. Char, Panicle spiked, ovate. Glumes of two equal, fringed 

 valves, terminating in feathery awns. Glumella of tvo unequal 

 valves, external one the largest, with a dorsal awn, bifid at the 

 upex ; the lobes long, rough, awn-like. — Name from Xayoi, a hare, 

 and ov^ci, a tail ; from the resemblance which the spike has to the 

 hare's tail. 



1. L. ova'tus, Linn. (Fig. 108.) Hare^s-tail-grass. Glumella sur- 

 rounded at the base externally with hairs, the internal valve with 

 a small abortive feathery floret at its base. 



English Botany, t. 1.334. — English Flora, vol. i. p. 167. — Lindley, 

 Synopsis, p. 299. — Hooker, British Flora, vol. i. p 35. 



Root fibrous. Stem frojn six to eighteen inches high, erect, or some- 

 what bending at the base, branched, leafy, round, smooth, shining, 

 naked above, slender. Leaves broadly linear, acute, ribbed, downy on 

 both sides. Sheaths striated, finely downy, upper one long, inflated in 

 the uj)per part. Ligula oblong, abrupt, striated, embracing the stem. 

 Inflorescence spicale, ovate, pale, remarkably soft and woolly, with 

 numerous long protruding awns. Glumes equal, thin, membranous, 

 spreading, singlc-ribbcd, and, as well as its awn, fringed with long 

 silky hairs; frequently a number of them, surrounding the base of the 

 spike, are empty. Glumella on a short pedicle, of two unequal valves: 

 the outer one with a gcniculated av.n, twisted in the lower part, tapering 

 in the upper, and arising from about the middle of the valve; the inner 

 one smaller, awnless, having at its base a small, finely fringed, abortive 

 floret. Anthers yellow. Style short. Stigmas feathery. Seed oblong, 

 loose in the unchanged glumella. 



Habitat.— Ycry rare. Sandy fields near the sea, in Guernsey. 



Annual ; flowering in June. 



This is one of our most beautiful and ornamental grasses, " the only 

 known species of the genus," and well worthy a place in the flower- 

 garden ; it would also form a very pretty addition to the feathery awns 

 of the following and other species in dceorti.tigus during ihe wiut«l' 

 I'ionths. 



