C Y N 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



C Y N 



42) 



of the plant, closely beset with little transparent denticles, 

 intermixed with a few tubular tritid flowers that jet above 

 the level of the surface. The stem is succulent and fleshy, 

 anJ all the parts astringent. It is seldom met with but in 

 the mo*l shady inland woods; and is a native of Jamaica. 

 3. Cy.ioaiorium Cayanense. Stipe naked; ament sub- 

 globular ; scales roundish, peltate. Native of Cayenne. 



Cynosurus; a genus of the class Triandria, order Digynia. 

 CiBNKKic CIIAKACTEK. Calix : receptacle common unila- 

 teral, often leafy; involucre in some one-leafed, lateral; 

 glume many-. lowered, two- valved; valves linear, acuminate, 

 equal. Corolla : two-valved ; the outer concave, longer ; the 

 inner flat, awnless; nectary two-leaved ; leaflets ovate-acute, 

 gibbous at the base. Stamina : filamenta three, capillary ; 

 anthers oblong. Pistil : germen turbinate ; styles t\Vo, 

 villose, r,-<I "\ ; stigmas simple. Pericarp: none; corolla 

 closely coating over the seed, and not gaping. Seed: single, 

 oblong, acuminate to each end. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. 

 Calix : two-valved, m my-flowered. Receptacle: proper 

 unilateral, leafy. Several species of this genus are natives 

 of the West Indies, and more of the East Indies. Pew of 

 them are known in Europe, otherwise than by specimens or 

 descriptions. They must be propagated by seeds brought 

 from their native places, and kept in the bark-stove. Those 

 from the Cape of Good Hope, &c. are of course preserved 

 in the dry-stove. For the culture of the European sorts, 



particularly the first, see Grass. The species are, 



1. CynosXirus Cristatus ; Crested Dog's-tail Grass. Bractes 

 pinnatitid; root perennial ; cu!ms from one to two feet in 

 height, erect, strict, having three or four joints, smooth, 

 and even ; leaves narrow, flat, smooth on both sides, scarcely 

 rough at the edge ; spike obtuse, stiff, and straight. It is 

 common in dry pastures, flowering in July and August, and 

 is called Bent-grass, in common with many-others ; and in 

 Scotland, JVindle-straui Grass. Most modern writers, echo- 

 ing Stillingfl^et, have celebrated this grass as excellent for 

 sheep. Mr. Curtis justly thinks less favourably of it, and 

 considers it as greatly inferior to many other grasses. It 

 predominates on sheep-downs, and in many parks, but is 

 late and unproductive. Mr. Ray sets down a variety of this 

 .sp.'cies, which he calls Square-crested Grass, because the 

 spike has four rows of flowers : it was found at Notley in 

 Essex. 



2. Cynosurns Echinatus ; Rough Dog's-tail Grass. Bractes 

 pinnate, chaffy, awned ; raceme glomerate, pointing one 

 way ; bractes only on the outside of the flowers, alternately 

 pinnate, one-flowered ; the rays ending in an awn. Annual. 

 Native of Europe, and the Levant. Found near Sandwich, 

 and in a sandy part of the island of Jersey ; flowering in July. 

 Of this grass, Villars remarks, that it is incorrectly named 

 e.chinate, for the spike is rather lanuginous than beset with 

 prickles ; he adds, that it is sometimes very tall among the 

 corn, but that on a rock he has seen it only two or three 

 inches high. 



3. Cynosurus Lima ; Imbricate Dog's-tail Grass. Spike 

 facing one way; the inner glume of thecalix lyi.ig below the 

 spikelets. Scarcely a span in height ; leaf small, the sheath 

 swelling a little ; spike closely imbricate, oblong, composed 

 of sessile flowers, compressed, and keeled, directed one way, 

 in a. double row ; culms slender, upright ; seed oblong, sharp 

 at both ends. It is annual ; flowers in England during July 

 and August ; and in May in Spain, of which country it is a 

 native. 



4. Cynosurus Durus; Rigid Dog's-tail Grass. Spicules 

 one-ranked, alternate, sessile, rigid, obtuse, pressed close ; 

 culms lew, scarcely a palm in height, procumbent ; leaves 



VOL. i. 36. 



even ; florets compressed, awnless ; flowering-spike straight, 

 stiff. The plant when adult is entirely of a brown bay- 

 colour. Annual; flowering in May, June, and July. Native 

 of the southern parts of Europe ; in Carniola. Switzerland, 

 the Palatinate, Silesia, and other parts of Germany. 



5. Cynosurus Sphaerocephalus ; Round-headed Cynosurus. 

 Bractes entire ; spikes globular. The spike resembles a head 

 of garlic ; spikelets imbricate every way, and subsessile ; 

 calix two or three flowered ; glumes nearly equal, at first 

 longer than the corolla, but afterwards shorter, blue, witli 

 white edges, ending in a sort of crest, and ciliate on the 

 middle of the back. There is a variety, with white flowers 

 in large heads. Native of the Alps. 



6'. Cynosurus Coeruleus ; Blue Dog's-tail Grass. Bractes 

 entire ; spikes subovate. Culms oblique, surrounded at 

 the base with a bundle of root-leaves, inclosed in a whitish- 

 brown wrinkled skin, giving the appearance of a branched 

 -)ot ; above bare of leaves ; florets on short peduncles, pur- 

 plish, livid, or brownish white, from half an inch to an inch 

 in length; calix mostly two-flowered, sometimes just longer, 

 and sometimes just shorter than the florets ; edges and keel 

 bearded ; germen reddish brown ; seed hairy. This flowers 

 the earliest of all our grasses, and would well deserve to be 

 extensively cultivated, if it were not for its low growth. 

 Native of Europe, in mountainous and boggy pastures; in 

 the north of England, upon the highest limestone rocks, as 

 Ingleborough in Yorkshire, &c. 



7. Cynosurus Uniolae. Without bractes: spike turned 

 one way ; spikelets in two rows, alternate, pressed close, 

 ovate, keeled, oblique. A very smooth grass. Native of the 

 Cape of Good Hope. 



8. Cynosurus Coracanus ; Thick-spiked Dog's-tail Great 

 Spike digitate, incurved ; calix compressed, erect ; leaves 

 nearly opposite. Annual : culms four feet high, covered 

 with leafstalks; spikes four or six, terminating, (sometimes 

 one below,) striated, almost erect, the length of the ringer, 

 growing broader as they ripen, often bent in ; flowers ovate, 

 oblong, compressed, awnless ; seeds nearly globular, large, 

 in four rows, swelling, naked. Native of India and Japan, 

 where it is cultivated for the eatable seeds. It flowers from 

 July to September. 



9. Cynosurus .Aigyptius ; Creeping Dog's-tail Grass. 

 Spikes digitate, obtuse, in fours, spreading very much, mu- 

 cronate ; stem creeping ; leaves opposite. Culm six to nine 

 inches long, ascending, bent at the joints, leafy ; leaves two 

 or three lines broad, rough at the edges. Annual ; flowering 

 from July to September ; and a native of Asia, Africa, and 

 America. 



10. Cynosurus Indicus : Indian Dog's-tail Grass. Spikes 

 digitate, linear ; culm compressed, declined, knotty at the 

 base ; leaves alternate. Culm slender, almost upright, red- 

 dish, sometimes creeping, leafy; leaves many, small, stiff; 

 spikes heaped, linear, four or six, from horizontal spreading, 

 from a thick base growing gradually more slender to the top, 

 floriferous at bottom ; valves of the calix acute ; the inner 

 longer, ciliate, lanuginose. It flowers in August, is annual, 

 and a native of both Indies, Japan, and the Society Isles. 



11. Cynosurus Virgatus ; Fine-spiked Dog's-tail Grata. 

 Panicle with simple branches ; flowers sessile, six together, 

 the last barren, the lowest sometimes awned. Height two 

 feet and a half, with a spreading panicle at the top, generally 

 composed of many delicate, simple, slender spikes. It is 

 perennial, flowering from July to August ; and a native of 

 Jamaica. 



12. Cynosurus Domingensis. Panicle with simple branches ; 

 spikelets subsessile, six-flowered ; all the flowers awned 5 root 



5 P 



