730 



is extremely succulent, of a pale brown colour, smooth, and entirely 

 without furrows : the sheaths are loose, somewhat gibbous, and dis- 

 tinctly ribbed : they are of a pale yellowish brown colour at the base, 

 and have about ten dark brown long-pointed teeth : these occasion- 

 ally adhere at the points, in twos and threes. 



The catkin is an inch and a quarter in length, rather slender, blunt 

 and rounded at the apex, and stands on a distinct foot-stalk, usually 

 about equal to half its own length ; it is of a pale delicate brown co- 

 lour, occasionally tinged with rosy red ; the scales are very variable 

 in number, being sometimes scarcely a hundred, at others reaching 

 two hundred and fifty. The catkin is mature in May, and sheds abun- 

 dance of seed, of a beautiful green colour. 



The following is a description of a barren stem. Length twenty- 

 eight inches; very slender at the summit, and increasing to the size 

 of a goose-quill at the base : the colour is glaucous green towards the 

 summit, and pale green towards the base : the stem has from ten to 

 sixteen distinct but not very deep furrows, and the same number of 

 equally distinct ribs, which are furnished with very minute siliceous 

 points; the number of joints is twenty-one: the length of the inter- 

 nodes varies from half an inch at the summit to two inches at the base : 

 the sheaths, including the teeth, are scarcely more than a quarter of 

 an inch in length ; they are but little larger than the stem, not, how- 

 ever, clasping it tightly, as in E. fluviatile ; they are furrowed in the 

 same manner as the intemodes, but the ribs are double : the teeth are 

 ten to sixteen in number, wedge-shaped, acute, and dark brown or 

 black ; they are commonly, but not constantly, furnished with a nar- 

 row, brown, marginal membrane : I have never seen the teeth of this 

 species with the distinct, white, semi-hyaline membrane, which ap- 

 pears constant in E. palustre, E. umbrosum, and some other species. 

 There is a whorl of branches on each of the thirteen upper joints, the 

 eight lower ones being branchless : the number of branches in a whorl 

 varies from four to thirteen. The branches are eight or ten inches in 

 length, rather stout, spreading, slightly ascending, four-ribbed, and 

 composed of ten or twelve joints, of which the apical ones are shortest; 

 the basal joint is shorter than the three which follow it, but is much 

 longer than in E. palustre, and still more so than in E. umbrosum : 

 the short sheath at the base of each branch usually terminates in ob- 

 tuse brown segments : the other sheaths are loose, and terminate in 

 four long acute teeth, which are generally concolorous throughout ; 

 and a single rib invariably ascends undivided to the extreme point of 

 each tooth. 



