174 AMONG THE WILD FLOWERS. 
largest species, whose barren stems, 3 to 6 feet 
high, and copiously branched, suggest the name 
“ Horse-tail,” like &£. Arvense, sends up its 
cone-bearing stems about April; these are only 
a foot high. This species is &. maximum, 
known also as &. fluviatile and E. Telmateta. 
Most of the other species are less frequent, or 
local. | 
Reserving the Filices for separate notice, as 
being the object of such widely spread and 
popular attention, the remainder of this paper 
will speak briefly of the other families of Cryp- 
togams. 
The MarsILEacE® are creeping or floating 
plants without stems, and producing globular, 
pill-like bodies with several cells in which are 
sacs containing granules. In our solitary 
genus, P2lularza, which is found in shallow 
water or muddy places, the capsules, like 
pepper-corns, are produced in the axils of the 
leaves, and have 4 cells. Another genus, 
Lsoetes, Quill-wort, is sometimes placed in this 
Order; it is seldom gathered, owing to its 
growing at the bottom of deep water; it has a 
tuft of awl-shaped leaves, in the base of which 
the reproductive bodies are embedded; it is 
