424 FLORA VITIENSIS. 
Equisetum, Amb.  Equiseta hiemalia, A. Braun. Equiseta stichopora, A. Braun. Equiseta 
cryptopora, Milde. Sclerocaulon, Doll. 
1. H. debilis, Seem.; caulis sublævis, leviter sulcatus, debilis; carinæ 8-32 et complures 
valleculis multo angustiores; vaginæ cylindrice, truncate v. fragmentis dentium vestitæ, breves, 
longiores quam late, оге paulum v. non ampliato ; foliola subplana ; carina media angulata sub vaginæ 
margine evanescente et lineis tuberculorum plus minus exsertis singulis marginalibus; dentibus 
lanceolato-subulatis medio atro-fuseis membranaceis 2—4-nis basi et sub apice connatis plerumque 
truncatis; rami 1-4-ni, irregulariter dispositi, 8-co-anguli, cauli simillimi. Epidermidis lumen 
amplum; cellule undulatz, stomatum cryptop. series l-lineatæ 6 et compluribus cellulis interpositis ; 
carinze convexæ nude v. fasciis; vallecule plerumque rosulis vestitæ; lacuna centralis + et amplior, 
valleculares magne oblonge.—Equisetum debile, Roxb. mss. ex Vauch. Monogr. Preles. (Mem. Soc. 
Phys. et Hist. Nat. Gen. vol. i. p. 387) ; Milde, Monogr. l. c. p. 477. n. 17. E. aquaticum, Noronh. 
Verb. Bat. Gen. vol. v. (1790) p. 14? E. Timorianum, Vauch. 1. c. p. 876. Е. palleus, Wall. Cat. 
п. 1087. E. larum, Blume, Enum. Pl. Jav. p. 274. E. virgatum, Blume, 1. c. p. 274. E. elongatum, 
Мей. in Ann. Sc. Nat. ser. 4. tome iv. (1861) p. 87. Е. hiemale, Mett. in Pl. Ind. Or. edid. 
Hohenacker, n. 1240. E. Huegelii, Milde in Verhandl. Zool. Bot. Gesell Wien, 1861, p. 356. 
Nomen vernac. Vitiense, * Masi ni tabua."— Growing socially and in great abundance on low 
swampy banks of the river Navua, Island of Viti Levu (Seemann! n. 697). Also collected at 
Aneitum, New Hebrides (Milne and M'Gillivray !), and New Caledonia (Vieillard !), and Japan. 
Widely diffused over tropical Asia and the Archipelago. 
The Vitian native name, * Masi ni tabua," of this plant relates to its use of polishing whales' teeth 
(tabua) with it. “Masi” is also the name of a wild Fig (F. scabra), the rough leaves of which are used 
(as are those of the Sandpaper-tree (Curatella) in tropical America) for polishing and scouring things. 
No Equisetum has as yet been found in New Holland, but until recently it was not known that 2. 
debile existed in the Polynesian Islands, and it is very probable that, like many other Asiatic types, it 
may also be found on the continent of Australia. 
