Lagurus ovatus L.

Softly hairy, erect, tufted annuals, 6–80 cm, with velvety greyish green leaves and erect to nodding, soft, silky, rounded panicles. Leaf-sheath densely pubescent, rounded, firmly membranous, distinctly ribbed; uppermost sheath ± inflated. Ligule 1.4–2.6 mm, membranous, truncate, abaxially densely pubescent. Leaf-blade (2)–4–17 cm × (2)–4–9 mm, flat, soft, densely pubescent, linear-lanceolate, tapered to acuminate tip. Culm slender, erect or ascending, simple or branched near base, internodes minutely pubescent. Panicle 1.5–7.5 × 1.6–4.5 cm, pale silvery green to cream, sometimes purplish, dense, ovoid to cylindric or globose, with numerous, soft, projecting bristles; rachis and very short branches hidden among spikelets, sparsely hairy. Spikelets 7–10 mm, 1-flowered, laterally compressed, subsessile; disarticulation above glumes; rachilla prolonged, hairy. Glumes equalling spikelet, 1-nerved, membranous, narrow-lanceolate, tapering to a fine bristle, covered throughout with long, fine silky hairs. Lemma ≈ glumes, 5-nerved, membranous, rounded, 4–5.6 mm, elliptic, hairy below, much narrowed above and narrowly diverging into 2 apical, fine, straight, minutely scabrid bristles 2–6 mm; awn dorsal, arising from upper ⅓ of lemma, 13–22 mm, somewhat geniculate near base, often purplish. Palea ≈ lemma and much narrower, 2-nerved. Lodicules 2, hyaline. Stamens 3; anthers 1.4–2.7 mm. Ovary glabrous, styles short. Caryopsis 1.6–2.6 × (0.3)–0.5–0.7 mm; embryo small; hilum short; endosperm liquid. Plate 3A.

[From: Edgar and Connor (2000) Flora of New Zealand. Volume 5 (second printing).]