14 D is ley to Middlewood. 



Start once again from Disley station, this time going 

 a short distance along the Buxton road, in the direction 

 of Hazel-grove, and keeping abreast of the fir-wood 

 that slopes from Jackson Edge. In ten minutes we 

 reach the new entrance to Lyme Park, and close by this 

 turn down a lane upon the left, then bear to the right, 

 then to the left again, then cross the brook, and so by 

 a path that cannot possibly be mistaken, and which 

 includes a passage of the rails, into sweet fields that 

 rise and fall, and where we find the stream again, wind- 

 ing amid flowers and leafage, alder-trees, sweet-ciceley, 

 and forget-me-not, till at last it takes refuge from their 

 flattery in the cave-like entrance to the tunnel through 

 the hill that we next ascend. The moist dell upon the 

 left of the upward path is a remarkable locality for 

 one of the most extraordinary plants that belong to the 

 existing flora of our planet, namely, the great white- 

 stemmed horse-tail, Equisc'tum Tdmatei'a, the English 

 name referring to the odd resemblance of a stem, with 

 its branches half-withered and held upside down, to the 

 tail of a charger, and Telmateia to the fondness of the 

 plant for moisture. In April there come up pipe-like 

 and leafless stalks, as thick as the finger, about a foot 

 in height, and sheathed with a singular vesture that cannot 

 be compared to anything else in nature, for the simple 

 reason that it is unique ; while on the summit there is a 

 yellowish cone. Later in the season these leafless stems 

 are superseded by white ones, scarcely so thick, but seve- 



