DUTCH RUSH OR ROUGH HORSETAIL. 115 



stem somewhat rough, and the cone with a stalk, is dis- 

 tinguished as v&f.fluviatile. 



Owing to the smoothness and softness of its stems, this 

 species is said to be acceptable to cattle as food. Linnaeus says 

 that it is so used for cows in Sweden, and for reindeer in 

 Lapland. 



Its distribution in these islands is as wide as that of the 

 Marsh Horsetail, and it reaches an altitude of 2500 feet in 

 the Highlands. Its wider distribution comprises Europe, 

 Northern Asia, and North America. 



The English names we have used are book-names, the 

 only folk-names not being distinctive. These are Paddock- 

 pipes, Paddow-pipe, and Paddie-pipe. Paddock, it need 

 scarcely be explained, is the Scots name for the frog, and 

 it would be sufficiently appropriate to this plant and the places 

 where it abounds, but for the fact that it is applied to other 

 species as well. Limosum is the Latin word for muddy or 

 slimy. 



Dutch Rush or Rough Horsetail {Equisetum hyemale). 



Regarded from the economic point of view this is the most 

 important of the Horsetails, for it is utilized in the arts for fine 

 polishing metal, wood, bone, etc. Fertile and barren stems 

 are only to be distinguished by the cones on the former. They 

 vary in length from a foot to three feet, and are very rough 

 to the touch, though quite smooth in appearance. They differ 

 from the stems of all our other species in lasting for two or 

 more years. There are none of the usual whorled branches, 

 but the stem sometimes forks from a little above the base, the 

 offshoots attaining a stature equal to that of the parent stem. 

 They are of a glaucous tint, and the cuticle is scored with 

 shallow grooves varying in number from eight to thirty-four, but 

 there are mostly from fourteen to twenty of them. The 



