THE HORSETAILS. 55 



Minnesota, and along the Rocky Mountains to Colorado. 

 It has also been reported from Iowa. In Minnesota it 

 is said to be common, but elsewhere in the United 

 States it is very rare. From Alaska to the Hudson 

 Bay region it appears to be plentiful. It is more abun- 

 dant in the Old World than with us, growing in culti- 

 vated fields as well as in waste places, often so plentifully 

 as to be considered a troublesome weed. Eaton 

 observes that it must be common in the rye fields of 

 Germany, since it is nearly always present in the straw 

 in which German glass is packed for export. 



In appearance and habitat this species stands so 

 nearly midway between the field horsetail and the wood 

 horsetail that the beginner might fancy it a hybrid 

 between them, but students of the equisetums do not hold 

 this view. The three forms of fronds, however, are of 

 interest in showing in a single species the relationship 

 between fertile and sterile shoots. 



The Jf^ood Horsetail. 



In his book, "The Fern Garden," Shirley Hibbard 

 characterizes the wood horsetail {Eqiiisctuui silvaticuni} 

 as " the most elegant of all the plants upon the face of 

 the earth." This may seem like extravagant praise to 

 those who have never chanced upon its graceful green 

 spires reared in the shadows of some moist woodland ; 

 but to those who have, it will probably seem not much 

 overdrawn. If not ready to admit its claim to be the 

 most elegant of plants, they will scarcely deny that it is 

 the handsomest of the equisetums and fully the equal 

 of any other plant whose beauty depends entirely upon 

 the outline and cutting of leaf and stem. 



