114 BRITISH FERNS. 



This plant is the most fodder-like of any of the Ec[idse- 

 tums, OAying to its less flinty cuticle, but in this point of 

 view, it is, at least in this country, of very small importance. 

 It is, however, stated to be used in Sweden as food for 

 cattle, "in order that the cows may give more milk ;" and in 

 Lapland, it is, even when dry, eaten with avidity by the 

 reindeer, though they will not touch common hay. Lin- 

 naeus censures the improvidence of the Laplanders, in not 

 providing during summer a supply of this plant and of the 

 Keindeer Moss, for winter use ; thus making some provision 

 for their herds at a time when the ground is covered with 

 frost-bound snow, so as not to risk the loss of their most 

 valuable or entire possessions. An instance is related by 

 Mr. Knapp, in which a colony of the short-tailed water-rats 

 made this plant their food, and in the evening might be 

 heard champing it at many yards' distance. 



THE MARSH HORSETAIL. 



The Equisetum palustre of botanists. A common species 

 in boggy places and by the sides of ditches and water- 

 courses. The stems are erect, growing from a foot to a foot 

 and a half in height, the presence of fructification alone 

 distinguishing the fertile from the barren. They are some- 

 what rough on the surface, but less so than in many other 

 kinds ; and they are marked on the exterior by prominent 

 ribs, with intervening broad deep furrows, the number being 

 variable, from six to eight. The joints are invested with 

 nearly cylindrical sheaths, which are quite loose, and in the 

 upper parts of the plant almost twice the diameter of the 

 stem. The sheaths terminate in as many acute wedge-shaped 

 pale-coloured teeth as there are ridges on the stem. The 

 stems are usually, except at the base, furnished with whorls 

 of numerous simple branches, the number corresponding 

 with the furrows of the stem ; these are slender, four or 

 five-ribbed, and their sheaths set nearly close. 



A section of the stem shows a series of prominent ridges 

 on the outer face ; just within these, and over against the 

 furrows occur a circle of moderate-sized cavities : and alter- 

 nating with these, and near the inner margin, is a series of 

 much smaller circular cavities. The central cavity of the 

 stem is comparatively very small, not much larger than the 

 series of openings near the outer surface. The resemblance 

 is considerable between its section and that of E. arvense. 



Besides the foregoing usual form, there are some curious 

 variations to which this plant is liable. One of the most 



