Nomenclature

Species name:

Lagurus ovatus   L.

Author(s):

Carl von Linné
   Sweden, 1707-1778

General names:

Hare's Tail
Rabbit Tail Grass
Bunny Grass
Hare's Foot

Maltese name:

Denb il-Fenek

Plant Family:

Poaceae   (Grass Family)

Name Derivation:

Lagurus = Directly meaning Hare's tail; Lagus=hare, oura=tail (Greek);

ovatus = Oval shape like an egg. (Latin).

Synonyms:

Lagurus dalmaticus, L. dimorphus, L. freynii, L. humilis, L. longifolius.

Plant Description

Life Cycle:

Annual

Habitat:

Along roads, field tracks and abondoned or fallow fields,

Sources in Malta:

Rather common everywhere throughout the Maltese islands.

Plant Height:

Up to 60cm

Flowering Time:

Mar - Jul

The Hare's Tail is a familiar low to medium sized grass reaching up to 60cm in height. It is a greyish-green annual with long silky and greyish hairs. The hairs give the plant and especially the flower a soft and gentle touch, giving rise to its Maltese and English names relating it to a rabbit or hare's tail.

As in other members of the Grass family the leaves are divided into 3 parts - the Sheath that encircles the stem which in this plant is mildly inflated and hairy, the Ligule is a small whitish membrane about 3mm that separates the Sheath from the Lamina, the Lamina is up to 20cm long and a few mm wide and is linear to spear-shaped in shape.

The flowering stems or Culms are solitary with a few nodes and reach as said up to 60cm in height. The flowers are in the form of a Panicle (a compound raceme flower group - the raceme is a grouping of flowers in which the individual flowers are stalked). The Panicle is rounded to oval in shape and is up to 7x2cm in length, and is very hairy and soft. Each single floret structure - the Spikelet is difficult to view since it is surrounded by dense hairs and each spikelet which bears single flowers is overlapped by others.

The spikelet consists of 2 bractlike structures at the base called Glumes which persist throughout its flower and are equal in size and spear-shaped with bristle like hairs, and the Florets which consist of 3 stamens, 2 styles and 2 surrounding bract like structures called the Paleaand the Lemma. These are oval to spear-shaped and the Lemma has an Awn(bristle-like structure) arising from it up to 2cm in length. The fruit is in the form of a grain and one is formed from each fertile flower.

This species is quite easily identified when in flower due to its globular (rounded)inflorescence from which long awns come out. It can be confused with the species Cynosurus echinatus but in this species the flowers are located on the same side of the inflorescence and not encircling the whole stem. It may also be confused by species of the genus Polypogon because these have a usually larger Panicle that is more elongated and the awns are usually more dense than in those of the Hare's Tail.

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