HORSETAILS. 477 



sometimes for kine, swine, arid horses. Brooms are made of 

 the spikes, which are sometimes imported into this country. 



The Sorghum saccliaratum abounds in sugar ; it is called 

 the millet of Caffraria. The millet of the Sorghum spicatum 

 is known in America as couscou. 



ACOTYLEDONOUS PLANTS. Sub-class Acrogenm. Filices, 

 Fern order. Of some species the rhizomes are esculent and 

 used as food, as Cyathea medullaris, Diplazium esculentum, 

 Pteris esculenta, Marattia alata, Nephrodium esculenlum, 

 Gleichenia Hermanni, which are used as food in Australia, 

 the Sandwich Islands, and India. 



The Pteris esculenta is the Tasmanian fern root. It is re- 

 ported that pigs feed upon this root when it is turned up by 

 the plough, and in sandy soils that they will themselves turn 

 up the earth in search of it ; and that the aborigines roast it 

 in ashes, peel off its black skin with their teeth, and eat it 

 with their roast kangaroo, in the same manner as Europeans 

 eat bread. The root of the Tara fern contains much nutri- 

 tive matter. 



The herbage of the Ophioglossacece has been used in broths. 

 The young shoots of Helminthostachys dulcis have been used 

 as asparagus. 



Equisetacece, Horsetail order. Equisetum fluviatile, accord- 

 ing to Haller, was eaten by the common people among the 

 ancient Romans. Liunseus affirms tliat the reindeer that 

 refuse hay eat this species ; also that it is cut as fodder for 

 kine, but that it is not acceptable to horses. The rhizomes 

 generally of the Equisetacece contain starch. The species known 

 in this country are E. fluviatile, great water horsetail; E. 

 Drummondii, blunt-topped horsetail ; E. arvense, corn horse- 

 tail ; E. limosum, smooth naked horsetail ; E. palustre, marsh 

 horsetail ; E. elongatum, long-stemmed horsetail ; E. hyemale, 

 rough horsetail ; E. sylvaticum, wood horsetail ; E. variega- 



