^6 Ferns and Fern Allies 



twice pinnatifid, with acute lanceolate lobes that are incised 

 or toothed. The veinlets fork from a continuous midvein. 



FIELD HORSETAIL 



Equeistum arvcnsc. Horsetail Family 



Stems: annual, hollow, jointed, provided with scattered stomata, the 

 fertile appearing in early spring before the sterile. Leaves: reduced to 

 sheaths at the joints. 



This is a rush-like plant of a very rank coarse nature, 

 which grows in ditches and along the sandy waysides. The 

 fertile stems, which appear in the early spring, grow from 

 four to ten inches high and are light brown in colour. 

 They are not branched, but terminate in a solitary cone-like 

 spike. The sterile stems, which appear later on in the sea- 

 son, are green and rather slender, averaging eighteen inches 

 in height. They have numerous verticillate branches, the 

 sheaths of which are four-toothed. 



Equisctimi pratense, or Thicket Horsetail, has many more 

 cup-shaped sheaths on the fertile stems (which become 

 branching when old) than the preceding species; also its 

 branches are more or less h'orizontal, those of the Field 

 Horsetail growing upwards. 



Equisctuin sylvaticnm, or Wood Horsetail, has furrowed 

 stems, and compound branches ; the tiny branchlets curving 

 downwards. 



Eqiiisetum scirpoidcs, or Rush Pipes, has evergreen, per- 

 ennial, slender, furrowed stems, which grow in tufts from 

 the subterranean rootstock. 



Eqiiisetum fluviatile, or Swamp Horsetail, is a large, 

 coarse plant found, as its name denotes, in very wet places. 

 It has a big central cavity in the stem, hollow branches, and 

 a hollow rootstock. 



