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E R I O P H O R U M v a g i u a t um .
H a r e s - ta i l Cotton-grafs.
TRTANDRIA Monogynia.
G en. C har. Glumes chaffy, imbricated on all fides.
Cor. none. Seed 1, invefted with very long hairs.
Spe c . C » ar . Stem round, invefled ,vvith a tabular
fheath. Spike folitary. Glumes membranous.
Syn . Eriophorum vaginatum. Linn. Sp. PI. 76.
Sm. FI. Brit. 58. Hud/, a a. With. 7 1 .
Hull. 14. Curt. Lond. fufc. 4 . t. 10. Dick/. H.
Sicc.fafc. 4. 3.
J uncus alpinus cum caudä leporinä. Ran Syn. 436.
TXT HE Hare’s-tail or Single-headed Cotton-grafs is not un-
frequently feen on the high barren heathy moors of the north
o f England, but it is rather remarkable that fo mountainous a
plant fhould have been found near Croydon by Sherard, and
between Grimfton and Lynn, Norfolk, by Mr. Pitchford. Its
filvery-blue flowering fpikes, with the yellow anthers a little
projecting between the fcales, are obfervable in March ; but
the plant becomes much more confpicuous in May and June,
when the fnow-white clufters of hair that encompafs the feeds
form a denfe oval tuft, not unaptly compared to a hare’s-tail.
The roots are perennial. Stems ere£t, ftraight, clothed with
one or two cylindrical, fwelling, membranous blunt {heaths,
often tipped with a fmall point, from whence originated the
trivial name vaginatum.. The leaves are ftraight, linear, fome-
what triangular, fmOoth, upright, {heathing at their bafe.
The larger fize of the fpike, and efpecially the {heath of the
ftem, fufficiently diftinguifh this fpecies from E . alptnum re-
prefented in out 3th volume.— Sheep are faid to be very fond
of it. See Curtis.
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