WOOD HORSETAIL. Ill 



other species. It is usually called Great Water Horse- 

 tail, but this is apparently a book-name, though in general 

 use ; locally it has been called Fox-tailed Asparagus and 

 Horse-pipes the latter shared with E. arvense. The " water " 

 element in the name is rather misleading, for it is much more 

 frequently found away from visible water than are E. palustre 

 and E. limosum, and we have found it (as above Swanage) on 

 dry stony hills where there was no suspicion of moisture. 



In the species whose descriptions follow there is not that 

 great dissimilarity between the barren and fertile stems which 

 characterizes the foregoing three species ; and the presence 

 or absence of the cone is almost the only distinction. 



Wood Horsetail (Equisetum sylvaticum). 



Though the palm for robust imposing appearance belongs 

 to E. maximum, the Wood Horsetail must be allowed to be 

 the most charming of our native species. This character is 

 due to two things connected with the branches : they have 

 a graceful arching droop, and they bear secondary branches 

 in pairs. 



The stem is only something between a foot and two feet 

 in height, marked with about twelve broad shallow grooves 

 and a corresponding number of broad-topped ridges, but it 

 is fairly smooth to the touch. The sheaths are long and loose, 

 the teeth long with blunt tips. The sheaths of the branches 

 end in three long sharp teeth, each of which has a central 

 rib extending to its tip. The secondary branches are four- 

 angled, but quite fine and thread-like, of a bright light-green 

 colour. As they droop from the main branches they present 

 much the appearance in miniature of the drooping branchlets of 

 the Larch. (Plate 119.) 



This description applies to barren and fertile stems alike, 

 the only difference between the two consisting in the fertile stem 



