Lagurus ovatus

Lagurus ovatus, Photo: Michael Lahanas

Cladus: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Divisio: Magnoliophyta
Classis: Liliopsida
Subclassis: Commelinidae
Ordo: Poales
Familia: Poaceae
Subfamilia: Pooideae
Tribus: Aveneae
Genus: Lagurus
Species: Lagurus ovatus


Lagurus ovatus L.

Vernacular name
Türkçe: Tavşankuyruğu


* Species Plantarum 1:81. 1753

Lagurus ovatus, commonly called hare's-tail grass, is an annual species of grass indigenous to the Mediterranean. It is an escaped weed in many parts of the world, it is also sometimes grown as an ornamental plant for its attractive flower panicle.[1]

Diagnostic features

* Awns are 8–20 mm.
* Leaves and sheaths are softly pubescent.
* Panicle measure 1–7 x 0.5–2 cm.
* Spikelets are 7–10 mm.
* Stems grow erect, up to 60 cm.

* Chromosomal number is (2n=14).


Found throughout southern Europe and introduced into Britain where it is now commonly thriving on sandy stretches in the isles of Guernsey and Jersey, occasionally found in Ireland and South Wales. It has become naturalized in County Wexford, Ireland, and South Devon and West Sussex in England. This plant is known or likely to be susceptible to barley mild mosaic bymovirus.


1. ^ Umberto Quattrocchi (2006). CRC world dictionary of grasses: common names, scientific names, eponyms, synonyms, and etymology. CRC Press. pp. 1177–. ISBN 9780849313035. Retrieved 11 September 2010.

* Brunt, A.A., Crabtree, K., Dallwitz, M.J., Gibbs, A.J., Watson, L. and Zurcher, E.J. (eds.) (1996 onwards). Barley mild mosaic bymovirus. Plant Viruses Online: Descriptions and Lists from the VIDE Database. Version: 20 August 1996.
* C.E. Hubbard (1968). Grasses, a guide to their structure, identification, uses, and distribution in the British Isles (2nd ed.). Penguin Books. p. 476.

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