EQUISETUM. 265 



and the cylinder of the stem is furnished only ^vith a row 

 of minute cavities near the inner margin ; this cylinder is 

 very thin compared with the diameter of the stem, tlie 

 central cavity being unusually large. The present plant, 

 therefore, though it has been considered a variety of E. 

 palastre, is most strikingly distinct from that species in 

 the structure of its stem. 



The fructification is produced only by a portion of the 

 branches. The cones are ovate, obtuse, and very fre- 

 quently sessile in the uppermost sheath. The scales are 

 black, exceeding a hundred in number ; the spore-cases 

 are pale-coloured. Usually only the termination of the 

 central stem bears fructification, but it sometimes happens, 

 though rarely, that some of the uppermost branches are 

 also fertile. 



This plant is the most fodder-like of any of the Equi- 

 setums, owing to its less flinty cuticle, but in this point of 

 view it is, at least in this country, of very small import- 

 ance. 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. 

 Linnasus censures the improvidence of the Laplanders in 



