690 



This species is by far too generally distributed to allow of my giving 

 a list of habitats : it occurs very commonly in ponds and ditches, 

 and occasionally in running streams, the roots and a portion of the 

 stem being immersed in water. 



Concerning the nomenclature of this plant Sir J. E. Smith has led 

 us into an error, which, in a late number of ' The Phytologist,' I took 

 some trouble to point out ; and although I believe no one who has 

 investigated the subject entertains the slightest doubt as to the fact 

 that the species now figured on the preceding page is the E. fluviatile 

 of Linneus, yet several eminent botanists prefer adopting Sir J. E. 

 Smith's nomenclature to that of Linneus, on the ground that the for- 

 mer is now established by usage. 



The medicinal properties of this plant have been so variously stated 

 that they appear to contradict each other. With regard to its econo- 

 mical uses Linneus gives us, in his ' Flora Suecica,' a very definite 

 statement that in Sweden it is cut up as food for cattle, in order that 

 the cows may give more milk ; * and in his ' Lachesis Lapponica ' 

 he abserves that " the rein-deer feed with avidity on the great water 

 horse-tail {Equisetum Jlumatile), which the Laplanders call Aske, 

 though it was in a dry state, and though they will not eat common 

 hay. How unaccountably negligent" he continues, "are the Lap- 

 landers not to collect in the course of summer a stock of this plant, 

 and of the rein-deer moss [Lichen rangiferinus)^ for winter fodder ! 

 They would then have some provision for the herd when the country 

 is covered with an impenetrable crust of frozen snow, and not hazard 

 the loss of all they are worth in the world."t There seems to be 

 very contradictory evidence even within the range of our more imme- 

 diate observation, as to its being eaten by horses, cows and sheep. 

 I have seen it growing luxuriantly in ponds in Herefordshire, in situ- 

 tions accessible to cattle, but I never could perceive that a stem had 

 been eaten ; but more recently, in the ditches which intersect the rich 



* Dissecatur iu pabulum Bourn, ut vaccse lac copiosius prseheant. — Linn. ' Flora 

 Suecica,' p. 368, n. 390. 



f ' Lachesis Lapponica," ii. 108, of Sir J, E. Smith's translation. The following 

 parallel passage occurs in the ' Flora Lapponica,' p. 322. Rangiferi, Lapponum pe- 

 cora, foenum per hyemem non adsumunt facile, hinc Lappo noctes diesque eos per 

 sylvas ducere tenetur. Obtuli circa autumnum redeuntibus ex longo itenere Rangi- 

 feris fasciculum foeni, et observavi eos banc plantara seligere et adsumere, reliqua fere 

 intacta relinquere. Annon itaquc hocce Equisetum majorem ceconomias lapponicae 

 usum adferre posset, incolis udicandum relinquo. 



