THE BRITISH HORSETAILS. Ill 



ing about the centre of the ring, and alternating with the 

 ridges, are a series of large roundish-oblong or obovate 

 cavities, the narrow end of which is turned inwards ; alter- 

 nating again with them, and consequently opposite to the 

 external ridges, occurs an annular series of small circular 

 cavities, which are placed near the inner surface of the tube. 

 This plant is not applied to any use ; and the harshness 

 of its stems renders it by no means agreeable to cattle, al- 

 though, in some situations, it occurs abundantly among their 

 pasturage ; and in cultivated ground becomes a troublesome 

 weed. 



THE WOOD HORSETAIL. 



This species is the Equisdum sylvaticum of botanists. It 

 is perhaps the most beaiitiful of the Equisetums ; certainly 

 it is extremely elegant in almost 

 all stages of its growth, and per- FlG - 30 - 



haps never more so than shortly 

 after the fertile stems, with their 

 fructification still perfect, have 

 begun to develop their lateral 

 branches. Later in the season 

 these branches, which have from 

 the first a pendent tendency, droop 

 around with exquisite grace on all 

 sides. 



The stems are erect, and in a 

 certain sense, those of them which 

 produce fructification, and those 

 which are barren, are similar, ex- 

 cept as regards this one point. 

 Their resemblance consists in 

 both growing up at the same time, 

 and both putting out whorls of 

 deflexed branches, which are, how- 

 ever, less numerous on the fertile 

 stems. In other respects they dif- 

 fer, as, for instance, in the growth 

 of the apices of the fronds ; for the 

 fertile ones, terminating in a cat- 

 kin which soon perishes, become 

 blunt-topped, while the barren 

 ones continue to elongate at the Equi$etum 

 point and so become pyramidal. 

 The barren stems are also more slender than the fertile 



