86 LAGURUS, 



[class III. ORDER II. 



luse, toni or creuated at llie end, broad, ribbed willi green, slightly 

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

 pale yellow. Style short. Seed ovate, attenuated at each end. After 

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

 not iinfrequently may be observed blowing about on the loose sand. 



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

 sandy situations inland, as "on Swaifham and Newmarliet heaths," 



Annual; flowering from May to July. 



GENUS XXI. LAGU'RUS. Linn. Hare's-tail-gra^s, 



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 

 apex ; the lobes long, rough, awn-like. — Name from >.«yoj, a Aaj-e, 

 and ov^K, 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. 1334. — English Flora, vol. i. p. 167, — Lindley, 

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



Root fibrous. Ste7n from 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 sti'iated, finely downy, upper one long, inflated in 

 the upper part. Ligula oblong, abrupt, striated, embracing the stem. 

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

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

 spreading, single-ribbed, and, as well as its awn, fringed with long 

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

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

 the outer one with a geniculated awn, twisted in the lower part, tapering 

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

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

 floret. Anthers -^-eWow. Style short. Stigmas {eaihevy. »SVc(/ oblong, 

 loose in the unchanged glumella. 



Habitat.— Very 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 decorations during the winter 



