307 



CLASS ni. 



OEDER. EQUISETACEtE. (DE-CAND.) 



EquisetuMj (Linn.) Horse-tail. 

 Linn. CI. xxiv. Ord. ii. 

 Name. From equus, a horse, and seta, a bristle ; in allusion to 

 the resemblance which some species bear to a horse-'s-tail. 



1. E. arvense, (Linn.) Corn-field Horse-tail. Enffl. Bot. t. 

 2020.1 ^,1. j\r. 77. 



Locality. Corn-fields and damp meadows. P. Fl. April. Area 

 \, 2, Z, 4, 5. ^Recorded in all the Districts, though the fructification 

 is rather rare. Fertile stems from 7 to 9 inches high, erect, smooth, 

 succulent, of a pale brownish hue, with from 3 to 5 distant furrowed 

 brown toothed, somewhat inflated, sheaths. Co7ie about 1 inch in 

 length, encircled at the base by the membranaceous rudiment of a 

 sheath. Barren stems are either procumbent or ascending, and vary- 

 greatly in length in different soils, from a few inches to 1 or 2 feet, 

 with numerous whorls of slender, generally simple, branches, the 

 sheaths of the stem many toothed. 



2. E. maximiim, (Lam.) great water Horse-tail. Bull., Soc. 

 Bot. de Fr. viii. 637. B. Telmaieia, Ehrh. S. 3. N. 67. 'E.fiuviatile 

 Sm. Engl. Bot. t. 2022. 



Locality. Wet damp ground, sides of ditches, clay-banks, and 

 swampy bogs, and frequently growing among the taller species of 

 Cyperaceous plants. P. Fl. April. Area, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Bistribnted 



1 This reference is to " Sotoerby's Fernt of Britain,'' and " Fern Allies." 

 N. to Mr. Newman's ■well-known and excellent History of British Fernt.y ed. 

 2 and 3. 



