522 
CYNOSUR'US. 
CYNOSU'RU?,y. [_y.vvof ov^a.,Gr. dog’s-tail.] Dog’s- 
tail Grass; in botany, a genus of the clafs triandria, 
order digyhia, natural order of gramina, gramineae, or 
grades. The generic characters are—Calyx: receptacle 
common unilateral, often leafy; involucre in fome one- 
leafed, lateral; glume many-flowered, two-valved ; valves 
linear, acuminate, equal. Corolla: two-valved; the outer 
concave, longer; the inner flat, awnlefs; neftary two¬ 
leaved ; leaflets ovate, acute, gibbous at the bafe. Sta¬ 
mina: filaments three, capillary; anther® oblong. Pif- 
tillum: germ turbinate; (tyles two, villofe, reflex; 
fiigmas fimple. Pericarpium: none; corolla clofely coat¬ 
ing over the feed, and not gaping. Seed : (ingle, oblong, 
acuminate to each end .—EJJential Charatter. Calyx, two- 
valved, many-flowered, (two or four-flowered, G .) Re- 
ceptaculum proper unilateral, leafy. 
Species, i. Cvnofurus criftatus, or crefled dog’s-tail 
grafs: braChes pinnatifid. Root perennial; culms from 
one to two feet in height, eredt, ftrict, having three or 
four joints, fmcoth, and even ; leaves narrow, flat, fmooth 
on both (ides fcarcely rough at the edge. According to 
Pollich, the leaves are near half a foot in length, above 
two lines in breadth, and roughifn if the fingers be moved 
from the point towards the bafe. Common in dry paf- 
tures; flowering in July and Auguft, and called bent- 
grajs, in common with many others; in Scotland, rdthdle- 
Jlraw-grafs. Moft modern writers, echoing Stillingfleet, 
have celebrated this grabs as excellent for flieep. Mr. 
Curtis thinks lefs favourably of it, and confiders-it as 
greatly inferior to many other grades. It is predominant 
on (beep-downs, and in many parks, but is late and un- 
^ produiffive. Mr. Ray lets down a variety of this, which 
he calls fquare-crejted-grajs , becaufe the fpike has four 
rows of flowers. It was found by Mr. Dale, in the fields 
at Notley in ElTex. 
2. Cynofurus echinatus, or rough dog’s-tail grafs: 
bradtes pinnate-chaffy, awned. Villars remarks, that it 
is ill-named echinate, for the fpike is rather lanuginofe, 
than befet with prickles; he adds, that it is fometimes 
very tall among the corn, and that he has feen it oil a 
rock only two or three inches high. Native of Europe 
and the Levant; near Sandwich, and in Jerfey, in a fandy 
foil; flowering in July. Annual. 
3. Cynofurus lima, or ijnbricate dog’s-tail grafs: fpike 
facing one way, the inner glume of the calyx lying be¬ 
low the (pikelets. Scarcely a fpan in height. Native of 
Spain, flowering in May ; with us it flowers in July and 
Auguft. 
4. Cynofurus durus, or rigid dog’s-tail grafs : fpicules 
one-ranked, alternate, feflile, rigid, obtufe, prefled clofe. 
Culms few, fcarcely a palm in height, procumbent. Sco- 
poli, not finding any character of this genus in it, has 
removed it to the poas; and Pollich, though he leaves 
it with the cynofuri, approves the removal. Native of 
the fouthern parts of Europe ; in Carniola, Swiflerland, 
the Palatinate, Silefia, and other parts of Germany. An¬ 
nual, flowering in May and June ; with us in July. 
5. Cynofurus fphaerocephalus, or round-headed cyno¬ 
furus : bradtes entire, fpikes globular. Root, culms, and 
leaves, as in cynofurus cjeruleus, except that the culm 
is much more tender, and fomewhat fhorter; the leaves 
three or four times narrower, flat, and of a paler colour. 
The fpike refembles a head of garlic. Native of the 
Alps. There is a variety with white flowers in larger 
heads. 
6. Cynofurus caeruleus, or blue dog’s-tail grafs: bradtes 
entire, (pikes fubovate. Culms oblique, furrounded at 
the bafe with a bundle of root-leaves inclofed in a whitifh 
brown wrinkled (kin, giving the appearance of a branched 
root; above bare of leaves. Root perennial; the culms 
(lender, from two to fix inches, and a fpan in height, 
having three joints, with a very fliort leaf at each. Leaves 
bluifh fea-green, from half an inch to three inches in 
length, keeled, and rough along the edges. Spike of a 
reddifli purple colour, fometimes browni(h white, or en¬ 
tirely white. Calyx, though ufually two-flowered, has 
fometimes one, and fometimes three, florets; antherre 
deeply cloven at both ends, yellow except at one end, 
where they are purple. There is much dilfention about 
the genus of this grafs: Jacquin riiade it an aira ; and 
Scopoli obferves, that in its manner of flowering it re¬ 
fembles that genus, but that it has the appearance of 
anthoxan’hum, and is very nearly allied to the phleums:' 
he made it a diftinct genus, under the name of fejleria ; 
and has been followed by Scopoli, Arduini, Withering, 
&c. Native of Europe, in mountainous and boggy pal- 
tures. In the north of England, on the higheft lime- 
ftone rocks, as Ingleborough, &c. The fil'd notice of it 
we have is from Mr. Ray, who received it from Mr. Pe- 
tiver, to whom it was Cent out of the north, by Mr. Fitz- 
Roberts. It flowers the earlieft of all our grades. In 
the fpring of 1792 the (pikes were pudiing vigoroufly on 
the 16th of March, and it was in full flower on the 29th. 
This would recommend it for culture, if it were not cf 
low growth. Foreign authors deferibe it as being larger 
than we find it to be. 
7. Cynofurus uniolse, or uniola dog’s-tail grafs: with¬ 
out bradtes; fpike turned one way ; fpikelets in two rows, 
alternate, preffed clofe, ovate, keeled, oblique. A very 
fmooth grafs, with the appearance of uniola, but the ca¬ 
lyx is bivalved, not many-valved. Native of the Cape 
of Good ‘Hope. 
8 . Cynofurus coracanus, or (hick-fpiked dog’s-tail 
grafs : fpikes digitate, incurved; culm comprefled, eredt; 
leaves nearly oppofite. Annual. Culms four feet high, 
covered with leaf-flalks. Seeds nearly globular, large, 
in four rows, fwelling, naked. Native of India and Japan, 
where it is cultivated for the eatable feeds. According 
to Gaertner, one globular, fmooth, feed, of a ferruginous 
red colour, is covered by an ovate-globular, membrana¬ 
ceous, thin, diaphanous, one-celled, valvelefs, capfule. 
It flowers from July to September; and was cultivated 
in 1714, by the dnehefs of Beaufort. 
9. Cynofurus TEgyptius, or creeping dog’s-tail grafs: 
fpikes digitate, in fours, obtufe, fpreading very much, 
mucronate; (tern creeping; leaves oppofite. Native of 
Afia, Africa, and America. Annual, flowering from 
July to September. 
10. Cynofurus Indicus, or Indian dog’s-tail grafs : 
fpikes digitate, linear; culm comprelfed, declined, knotty 
at the bafe ; leaves alternate. Culm (lender, almofl: up¬ 
right, reddifh, fometimes creeping, leafy. Capfule and 
feed refembling the eight fpecies, only one-third lefs in 
all the parts ; it differs abundantly, not only from this, 
but all other known genera of grades, in having a real 
and very confpicuous pericarp. Linmeus remarks, that 
after the feeds fall, there remain pedtinate fpikes, with 
calycine glumes, of which the (ide ones fpread open with 
a rugged keel; and that the calyxes contain about four 
flowers. Vahl obferves, that this grafs varies with more 
and fewer, longer and fliorter, fpikes ; and that the lower 
leaves are frequently oppofite. Annual. Native of both 
Indies; Japan, and the Society 1(1 es. Cultivated in 1714 
by the duchefs of Beaufort. It flowers in Augufl. 
ri. Cynofurus virgatus, or fine-fpiked dog’s-tail grafs: 
panicle with fimple branches; flowers feflile, fix toge¬ 
ther, the laff barren, the lowed fometimes awned. Height 
two feet and a half, with a fpreading panicle at the top, 
generally compofed of many delicate, (lender, fimple, 
fpikes. Native of Jamaica ; flowers from July to Sen- 
tember, and is perennial. 
12. Cynofurus Domingenfis, or Domingo dog’s-tail 
grafs: panicle with fimple branches; fpikelets fubfefiile, 
(ix-flowered; all the flowers awned. Root perennial. 
Culms feveral, eredt, from two to three feet high, round, 
fmooth, filming, (lender, jointed, leafy, frequently put¬ 
ting out a fingle branch from one of the lower joints, 
otherwife quite fimple. Leaves enfiform-linear, acute, 
flat, feeling rough when the finger is drawn along the 
edge from point to bafe, hairy on the upper furface be¬ 
low the middle, fmooth on the lower. Native of St. 
Domingo in the Weft Indies. According to Swartz, this 
is 
