LAGURUS. 



143 



to make it apply to a totally different genus from what 

 it originally designated, is to be rejected." In the 

 ' English Botany ' this grass 

 is called " Knappia agro- 

 stidea" in honour of Mr. 

 Knapp, the author of ' Gra- 

 mma Britannica/ a standard 

 work published in 1804. 

 Certainly it is much better 

 to call a plant by a name 

 that expresses its own cha- 

 racteristics, than by the 

 name of its describer or even 

 its discoverer, and the mean- 

 ing of the one chosen by Mr. Bentham, " Humble Field- 

 grass," is remarkably appropriate. 



This very neat little grass favours sandy pastures near 

 the sea, in which situations it is occasionally found in 

 Anglesea and Jersey. It is a small delicate annual ; it 

 developes its minute culm very early, and opens its little 

 florets in April, in May the seeds are ripe, and after 

 that the minute stems and leaves dry up, and are quite 

 withered by Midsummer. It has no recommendation, 

 agricultural or otherwise, nor any attraction but its de- 

 licate and evanescent beauty. 



In Germany, the South of France, and Greece, it is 

 frequent in maritime pastures or sandy waste places. 



Genus XI. LAGURUS. 



Gen. Char. Spikelets single-flowered ; outer glumes long, 

 narrow, spreading, hairy ; flowering glume of firmer texture, 

 shorter, with two awns springing fork-like from its apex 



