72 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



very short setaceous triquetrous lamina. Spike solitary, terminal, 

 erect, many-flowered, without leafy bracts at the base, roundish-ovoid 

 in fruit, tapering towards the apex. Glumes triangular, acute, 

 black, with broad white scarious margins and apex. Hypogynous 

 bristles very numerous, in fruit straight and twice or thrice as 

 long as the glumes. Nut large, elliptical-oval, rounded at the apex, 

 shortly mucronate, compressed-trigonous. 



On damp lieaths. Universally distributed, but rare in the south ; 

 becoming more abundant towards the north ; and very common in the 

 Scotch Highlands. 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Perennial. Spring, early Summer. 



Plant growng in roundish tufts, each consisting of many smaller 

 tufts of radical leaves, from many of which are develojied ilowering 

 stems 4 to 8 inches high in flower, and 6 to 20 in fruit. Spike | to 1 

 inch long in flower, 1 to If inch in fruit. Nut fuscous, about J inch 

 long, flattish on the inside, convex with a prominent ridge on the 

 back. 



Hare's-tail Cotton Grass. 



French, Linaigrette a larges games. German, Scheidenfiirmiges Wollgras. 



Mr. Grindon says this and the Tassel Cotton Gra^s are two of the prettiest phxnts 

 of the British Flora. While in bloom they am inconspicuous ; but when in fruit the 

 large silvery heads present a singularly beautiful spectacle, surfaces where it is 

 abundant seeming, if viewed at a gentle incline upwards, as if covered with snow ; 

 while the glossy tassels, white as ermine, of the Tassel Grass dangling in graceful 

 clusters from the tops of the grass-like stalks might well be cited in the romantic 

 poetry ascribed to Ossiau — 



" Her bosom was whiter than the down of Casca." 



The desolate flat black moors of the north are enlivened by them for several weeks in 

 early siunmer, and in the level light of the setting sun they shine like satin. No use 

 can be made of the heads, which are " cotton " only in appearance, the hairs being 

 straight and stiff. 



Section III— EU-ERIOPHORUM. 



Spikes several, usually drooping in a terminal head or simple um- 

 bellato-corymbose panicle, which have several long leaflike bracts at 

 the base. Hypogynous bristles very numerous, straight when elongated 

 after flowering. 



