554 THE EQUISETUM FAMILY. 
mostly fruiting, but all similar and simple, or rarely with very few 
branches, 1 to 2 feet high or more, faintly marked with 15 to 20 striz, 
and rough to the touch. Sheaths 3 to 5 lines long, white, with black 
rings round the top and the base; the teeth very minute and blunt, or 
rarely shortly subulate. . Spike 6 ‘to 9 lines long, with a little conical 
point on the rounded top. 
In marshes and wet woods, in northern Europe, Asia, and Anata 
extending from Spain and Italy to the Arctic regions. In Britain, 
chiefly in Scotland, and northern and central England ; rare in Ireland. 
Fr. summer, rather Tate. 
[#. Moorei, Newm., is an annual variety found near the sea in Wick- 
low, with looser sheaths, and truncate teeth. | : 
9. E. trachyodon, A. Braun. (fig. 1276). Long #.—Very near E, 
hyemale, with the same little conical point to the spike, and very pro- 
bably a mere variety, differing only in its slender stems, with only 8 to 
12 or seldom more striz ; the sheaths have seldom any black ring round 
the base, though they often turn black altogether, and the teeth have 
usually lanceolate, subulate points. The stem terminating the stock has 
usually a few long branches, especially from the lower whorls, and varies 
from 1 to 2 feet high or more; the lower stems are simple, slender, and’ 
shorter, all usually bearing a spike. &. ramosum of former editions. Z£. 
Mackan, Newm. 
In sandy, moist places, generally dispersed over Europe, Russian Asia, 
and North America. In Britain, apparently confined to Scotland and 
north-east Ireland. Fr. summer, rather late. 
10. E. variegatum, Schleich. (fig. 1277). Variegated E.—This is 
again considered by some, and perhaps correctly, as a variety of £. 
hyemale. Stems slender, all simple, or very rarely branched, usually in 
several tufts, 6 to 8 inches high, but the terminal or central one some- 
times lengthened out to 1 or.2 feet, with only 8 to 10 strize ; the sheaths 
short, with a conspicuous black ring, and short teeth. Spike seldom 
half an inch long, with a conical point as in £. hyemale. 
In maritime sands, or on the sandy banks of rivers, sometimes quite 
in water, in the maritime or mountain districts of Europe and Russian 
Asia, especially in the north, and in North America. In Britain, chiefly 
in Scotland, Ireland, and the coasts of northern England. Fr. summer, 
rather late. 
XCIV. FILICES. THE FERN FAMILY. 
Herbs, with a perennial, short, or tufted, or creeping root- 
stock (in some exotic species growing up into a tall, woody 
stem), or rarely annual; with radical or alternate leaves, which, 
as they also partake of the nature of branches, are distinguished 
by the name of fronds. In most genera these fronds are, When 
young, rolled inwards at the top, and the rootstock, and some- 
times also the stalks of the fronds, are more or less covered with 
brown, scarious, usually pointed scales, Fructification consist- 
ing of capsules, called spore-cases (sporangia), sometimes email 
