427 



FLOWERLESS PLANTS. 



Substance of the plant wholly of cellular tissue (excepting 

 in the Subclass thoctulosw, where there are a few ducts); 

 No woody fibre. No true flower with stlamens and pistils. 

 No distinct embryb, iior cotyledons. 



Class III. 

 CRYPTOGAME^ DUCTULOSiE. 



' Plants -with a few ducts ,amongst,tlie cellular tissue^. 



Order XCyill. EaUISETACE^. 



Leafless branched plants with a striffte hollow stem; each 

 joint ending in a sheath whii^h conceals the joining' and encloses 

 the base of the next joint. Sporulea surroiiii.ded by elastic cla-f 

 vate filaments and enclosed in capsides arising from the peltate 

 scales of terminal cones or spikes. — young stems straight. Oii- 

 ticle aboimding in silex. Only one genus. 



1. EatrisB'Tim: Linn. Horse-tail. 



* Fertile stems 'mostly wnbranched and succuMent ; barren stems 

 withsoliM lOhorhd branches, appearing laten 



1. JE. arven'se(L.); sterile st. with few fiuTows slightly rough, 

 branches rough with 3 Or 4 simple angles, teeth of sheaths long 

 acute 1-ribbed at the tip, fertile st. simple with few las distant 

 sheaths. — K B. 2020. S.\. N. 77. — Sterile st. many, procumbent 

 or ascending; with many whorls of roiighish not hollow usually 

 simple branches with deep furrows and 3^4-topthed sheaths, 

 theiT lowest Joint (including its terminal sheath) exceeding the 

 st.-slieath ; general outline narrowed upwards. Fertile st. ^hort, 

 with few (4 — 5) sheaths, appearing before the sterile ones. Ste- 

 rile and fertile st. distinct.; — Damp meadows. JP. IV. E. S. I. 



2. E. vmbrdsam (Willd.) ; sterile st.. with about 20 atriffi viry 

 rough mth prominent points particularly above, branches simple 

 with 3 or 4 simple angles, feeiA of sheaihs 1-ribbed hut not to the 



' {N.} refers to Newman's History of British. Ferns, ed. 2. . (S.) to, 

 Sovierbi/'s Ferns of Britain and Fern-allies, Moore's Handbook of 

 British Ferns, ed, 3, may be GOiisulted with much adyantage. '. 



