FLOWERING PLANTS. 15 
GENUS V.—MYOSURUS. | Linn. 
Sepals 5 (rarely 6 or 7) with a small spur at the base, deciduous. 
Petals equal in number to the sepals, narrow, with the claw filiform, 
tubular and nectariferous. Stamens definite. Ovaries indefinite. 
Achenes in a long cylindrical tapering spike, apiculate. 
Small annuals with radical leaves and naked scapes, bearing small 
yellowish flowers. This genus and Adonis approach the tribe 
Ranunculez, only differing in the position of the ovule. 
SPECIESI—MYOSURUS MINIMOUS. Linn. 
Prate XIV. 
Reich. Ic. Fl. Germ. et Helv. Vol. III. Ran. Tab. XIV. Fig. 4569. 
Sepals linear-oblong, spreading, with the spur applied to the 
peduncle. Petals rather shorter than the calyx, very slender in the 
tubular basal half. Achenes very numerous, with a membranous 
margin, and a dorsal keel commencing above the base and project- 
ing in a mucro beyond the apex of the fruit. 
Rather rare, in sandy corn-fields and gravel-pits. It appears to 
be most frequently met with in the East of England, becoming rarer 
towards the West and the North, where Northumberland appears 
to be the limit. 
England, Ireland. Annual. Early Summer. 
A small glabrous plant with a tuft of narrow, linear, somewhat 
fleshy radical leaves, and numerous, naked, 1-flowered scapes, 2 
to 5 inches high. Flowers very small, very pale greenish-yellow. 
Sepals narrowly-oblong, with the basal spur applied to the scape. 
Petals formed of a slender tube, terminating in a short ligulate 
limb. Spike of carpels 1 to 2 inches long when mature ; receptacle 
filiform ; the oblong pale-brownish achenes are attached to it by 
their inner faces. 
i Common or Little Mousetail. 
French, Myosure, Queue de Souris. German, Mauseschwanz. 
From pve (mus), a mouse, and ovpa (owra), a tail, in reference to the elongated 
receptacle or the spike of seed-vessels, which greatly resembles the tail of a mouse. 
