150 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



and less succulent than the normal fertile stems, and become whitish 

 or green, and ultimately produce whorls of branches similar to those 

 of the sterile stem, but shorter. 



SPECIES I.— E QUISETUM MAXIMUM. Lam. 



Plate 1888. 



Babenh. Crypt. Vase. Europ. Exsicc. Nos. 99, 100. 



E. Telmeteia, Ehrh. in Hanov. Magazine for 1873, p. 287. Koch, Syn. Fl. Germ, et 



Helv. ed. ii. Gr. & Godr. Fl. de Fr. Vol. III. p. 643. Newm. Brit. Ferns, ed. ii. 



p. 67. Babenh. I.e. 

 E. eburneum, " Schreb." Fries, Summ. Veg. Scand. p. 59. Both, Cat. Vol. I. p. 129. 

 E. fluviatile, Sm. Eng. Bot. No. 2022 ; and Eug. Fl. Vol. IV. p. 337 ; et auct. Brit. 



plur. ante 1843. Non Linn. 



Stems of two kinds, perishing in autumn. Sterile stem stout, 

 cylindrical, with even or smooth 20 to 40 stria? scarcely observable 

 in the living plant, smooth or slightly rough in the upper part, 

 white. Sheaths applied to the stem, pale green with a pitchy-black 

 ring towards the apex ; teeth 20 to 40, free or some of them united 

 in pairs or threes, subulate, very acute, pitchy-black with brown 

 scarious margins. Branches very numerous, spreading or slightly 

 drooping in luxuriant specimens, scabrous, 4- or 5-quetrous, w T ith the 

 ridges grooved and separated by rather shallow furrows, solid, 

 unbranched or rarely with one or more branchlets, their lowest 

 internodes falling short of the teeth of the sheath ; sheath enclosing 

 the base of the first internode of the branch, pitchy-black, with a pale 

 brown scarious apex, furnished with short rounded lobes ; sheaths 

 at the apex of the first and succeeding internodes of the branches, 

 terminated by triangular or triangular-subulate teeth, which have 

 frequently setaceous points. Fertile stem short, very stout, succulent, 

 whitish, ultimately pale brown, smooth. Sheaths close together, 

 funnel-shaped, the lower ones overlapping each other, and even the 

 upper frequently showing but a small portion of the stem between 

 them, pale brown, darker towards the apex ; teeth 20 to 40, many of 

 them united into groups of 2 to 4, dark brown, subulate, not at all 

 connivent. Spike oblong-cylindrical, obtuse, pale brown. Occa- 

 sionally stems similar to the sterile stem, but terminated by a spike 

 like the fertile ones, appear in summer or autumn. 



On the banks of ponds, rivers, and ditches, and on banks of loose 

 earth and quarry rubbish, also in damp woods and moist meadows, 

 even growing in water. Not uncommon, and generally distributed 



