110 WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND FERNS. 



thirty of these branches in each whorl, and they are. rough 

 and somewhat angular. The stems are half an inch in diameter, 

 and though their white exterior is scored with about thirty 

 grooves, these are so fine and the intervening ridges so close 

 that the surface appears quite smooth to the touch. The 

 sheaths are very short and tight, with long slender teeth 

 along the margin, and two pale-green ribs to each tooth. Just 

 beneath the sheath the stem is often coloured with an irregular 

 band of purplish-brown or black. (Plates 117, 118, 121.) 



The fertile stem also is stout, sometimes three-quarters of an 

 inch in diameter, but seldom more than a foot in height. It is 

 almost hidden by the long lax sheaths of a pale-brown colour, 

 which have from thirty to forty long sharp teeth, each two- 

 ribbed. The stem ends in a large cone, two or three inches 

 in length, which is ripe in April. Sometimes, late in the 

 season, branch-bearing fertile stems make their appearance, 

 attaining the proportions of, as well as a general resemblance 

 to, the barren stems, and only to be distinguished by the 

 presence of a small cone. Occasionally, also, abnormal 

 specimens are found with a prolongation of the stem and 

 branches above the cone, or with a small cone at the summit 

 of a branch. 



In section the stem shows a very large axial cavity, around 

 which is a row of small circular pores, and outside these a 

 series of large oval spaces (Plate 110). 



The Great Horsetail is at home in bogs, water-courses, 

 wooded banks, and other wet places in England, Wales, and 

 Ireland generally. In Scotland it occurs as far north as Skye, 

 but on the mainland Lanarkshire and Edinburghshire appear 

 to be its northern limits. It ascends to 1200 feet in Yorkshire. 

 It is also found in the Channel Islands ; on the Continent 

 from Denmark southward, in Northern Africa, North and 

 West Asia, and North America. 



The Latin name indicates its superiority in stature to the 



