THE HORSETAILS. 53 



found at low altitudes along the coast from southern 

 California to British Columbia and Alaska, being abun- 

 dant in the central part of its range and the dominant 

 Equisctum in British Columbia. According to Mr. A. J. 

 Hill, the Indians are said to eat the fertile spikes. In 

 addition to the usual common names, this plant is some- 

 times called the " great water horsetail" and the "mud 

 horsetail," neither of which is very appropriate, at least 

 in this country, where the plant grows in any soil, includ- 

 ing railway embankments. The spores lose their vitality 

 soon after they are shed, and this may perhaps account 

 for its being less abundant than the field horsetail. The 

 species seems to be rarely cultivated, though it ought to 

 be a most desirable species for decorative planting. 



The Shade Horsetail. 



The American collector is likely to see little of the 

 shade horsetail (Equisetmn pratensc], for its centre of 

 distribution is in the far North. Only a few stations for 

 it in the United States are known. It is possible, how- 

 ever, that when students become more familiar with this 

 species it will be found to be more widely distributed. 

 Its rather close resemblance to the field horsetail makes 

 it easily overlooked by the novice. 



One of the important features in which this species 

 differs from the field horsetail is found in the fertile 

 shoots, which, after the spores have been shed, put forth 

 whorls of branches from the nodes and thereafter behave 

 in all respects like sterile stems. While this is true of 

 the majority, other stems may be found that die as soon 

 as the spores are shed, and the species is therefore 

 usually described as -having three kinds of fronds. The 



