JY ' [ 1334 ]
LAGURUS ovatus.
Hare s-tail-grass.
TRIANDRIA Digynia.
Gen. Char. Cal. o f 2 va lve s , single-flowered, with
feathery awns. O u te r v a lv e o f the corolla with 2
terminal awns, and a dorsal twisted one.
Spec. Char. . . . .
Syn. L a g u ru s ovatus. Linn. Sp. PI. 119. Sm. FI.
Bril. 143, With. 166. Hull. 17 - Dicks. II. Sicc.
fasc. 7 . 1 .
A lo p e cu ro s spicâ rotundiore. Moris, sect. 8. t. 4. f . 1,
w E have received this from Guernsey. It was first observed
there by Mr. Gosselin, who sent specimens to Mr. Dickson.
It grows in sandy open places, flowering in June, and refnains
for some time afterwards bleaching in the wind.
The annual root consists of a few thick downy fibres. Stem
solitary, various in height and thickness, erect, leafy, jointed,
round, very smooth. Leaves Lanceolate, ovate at the base,
flat, soft and downy, with very long, inflated, downy sheaths.
Stipula oblong. Spike at first erect, but most commonlv driven
toward one side by the'wind, which has great power over its
light feathery form, so that it becomes somewhat drooping.
Its shape is ovate and blunt, flowers numerous and crowded,
Calyx of 2 equal, narrow, long glumes, finely fringed or feathered
with long, soft, dense, white hairs. Floret solitary,
sessile, lanceolate, bristly at the base and keel, terminated by
2 rough straight awns, and bearing from the back a much
longer and stronger, rough and twisted, awn. The inner
glume is thin, beardless, and cloven.
Lagurus cylindricm of Linnceus is now justly esteemed a
Saccharum; the specific character of that here described becomes
therefore superfluous.