Horsetails 



Pratense is a Latin word meaning "growing in 

 meadows." 



The tallest and most striking of our horsetails is 

 the Great Water Horsetail, Equisetum maximum. It 

 attains its greatest height when growing in muddy 

 ditches, or in boggy places. The stems of this horse- 

 tail are of two kinds. The fertile stems, which appear 

 about the month of April, are nearly i foot in height. 

 They have large, loose, pale brown sheaths, with about 

 thirty long slender teeth, and are surmounted by the 

 large cones, often 3 inches in length. In colour they 

 are reddish-white. The smooth barren stems, 4 feet 

 or so in height, bear numerous whorls of branches, the 

 latter being often again branched. Each whorl contains 

 as many as thirty or forty branches. Towards the top 

 of the main stem the whorls are close, but towards the 

 middle they are more remote. The short sheaths, 

 which have long slender teeth, fit the stem more or less 

 closely. The slender branches, which, unlike the stems, 

 are rough to the touch, are four angled. Each tooth 

 of the sheaths found on the branches has two well- 

 marked toothed ribs. This feature is worth noting, as 

 it proves very helpful to us when identifying specimens 

 which are less well developed than the normal forms. 



Occasionally a third type of stem is found. It bears 

 cones like those of the fertile stems, but much smaller, 

 and branches like those of the barren ones, but much 

 shorter, and less spreading. 



The specific name, maximum, meaning "greatest," 

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