148 PERNS OP GEBAT BRITAIN. 



When first it rises, it seems merely a hollow pointed 

 stem, for its branches are not then seen. It is, how- 

 ever, when fuUy grown, two, or two and a half feet high, 

 and has whorls of long, green, rigid, and four-angled 

 bra,nches, either half way down, or throughout its 

 whole length, and two or more fronds rising from the 

 same part of the creeping stem. In shady situations, 

 as when overtopped by the rising corn, these deep green 

 branches become very long and scattered; but in the 

 drooping attitude which they assume, and in the close 

 growth of ordinary specimens, they are thick enough to 

 remind us of the tail of a horse, and in some cases they 

 are again branched; The stem is slightly marked with 

 about ten or a dozen furrows, and both stem and 

 branches are rough with the minute particles of flint 

 with which they are coated. The sheaths are furrowed, 

 and their wedge-shaped teeth have often a white thin 

 line round the margin. 



This rigid plant is a very unwelcome intruder on the 

 pasture land, as cattle, except when pressed by hunger, 

 leave it untouched, and when eaten it is said in some 

 instances to have proved very injurious, though sheep 

 and horses seem to eat it with impunity. It sometimes 

 runs aU over the land, and is most difficult of extirpa- 

 tion. It is equally common in other parts of -Europe, 

 as well as in Asia and North America. It is in Prance 

 called Prele; and this, or some very similar species, is 

 the Kannenkraut of the Germans. The Dutch call some 

 Common Horse-tail Akkerig paardestaart ; and these 

 plants are the Hquiseto of the Italians and Spaniards, 

 while several of the species are commonly known in 



