Fern Allies. 139 



it is of a pale green colour, and consists of a tough and 

 rather decumbent stem, surrounded with whorls of 

 thread-like branches, its true leaves, if it has any, being 

 in the form of minute scales, placed around points or 

 rings which occur at regular intervals on the stems. 

 The plant is known to country people as the " horse- 

 tail'" or " mare's-tail," and in botany is called Equi- 

 setum arvense, the field Equisetum. Though a trouble- 

 some weed, and one that is detested where it grows 

 plentifully, it is well worth a place in the fernery, and 

 when planted in a shady bank of peat, it spreads fast, 

 and makes its appearance in all sorts of places, but does 

 not drive better things out of the way, or even render 

 itself objectionable. I have some of it in a shady part 

 of my fernery, and very much enjoy the mixture of its 

 elegant light green spray with such ferns as Onoclea 

 sensibilis, and others that have bold-looking fronds. 

 Those who know this plant, as probably most of our 

 readers do, will be, perhaps, prejudiced in favour of the 

 genus to which it belongs. But whether such be the 

 case or not, I wish to recommend these plants to the 

 notice of fern-growers, as suited to contribute in a 

 special manner to the interest of a collection of acro- 

 genous plants. I have all the species that are known, 

 and one of them I consider the most elegant of all 

 plants ever seen upon the face of the earth. This gem 

 is called Equisetum sylvaticum, one stem of which is 

 represented in the accompanying figure. If the reader 

 can imagine a nine-inch pot, with about fifty of these 

 stems crowded together in it, all of them arching over 

 with exquisite grace, like feathers from the tails of birds 



