72 
EQUISETACE.E. 
in the present, for the Greek word T£>,fA,aT£iog, signifying ‘growing 
in mud,’ is less fanciful, as applied to the present species, than 
the Latin word Jluviatile, or ‘ growing in rivers.’ Moreover, 
the former objection is overruled, in the instance before us, 
by Ehrhart’s name having been employed in the ‘ Flora Da- 
nica,’* a work of acknowledged authority ; by Hoffmans, in 
his ‘ Deutschlands Flora ;’f and recently by Dietrich, as quoted 
above. I may also add that it is acknowledged as authority by 
Wahlenberg, than whom we have no more careful or pains- 
taking nomenclaturist. 
The roots and rhizoma present no peculiar characters ; the 
latter is generally of an ebony blackness, and seems to spread 
with considerable rapidity, so that w^hen once introduced a large 
patch is soon formed. 
The stems are of three kinds, as in the preceding species ; 
Jlrst, bearing fructification only ; secondly, bearing fructification 
and branches ; and thirdly, bearing branches only. The exclu- 
sively fertile stems come up in March, shed their seed in April, 
and disappear in May : at page 67 one of these is represented 
of the natural size and proportions, and has been divided for 
more convenient representation : it is nine inches in length, and 
has six joints, several shorter and subterranean ones having 
served to unite it with the rhizoma. I have, in some instances, 
found the total number of joints to be fifteen ; the stem, scarcely 
observable, owing to the great length of the sheaths, is pale 
brown, smooth and succulent. The sheaths are very large, loose 
and spreading towards the summit, distinctly striated, and ter- 
minate in from thirty to forty long, slightly flexuous, setiform 
teeth : the sheaths at the base are pale brown, but are much 
darker towards the summit. The catkin is about two inches 
and a half in length, and eventually an inch and a half in cir- 
cumference : the scales are very numerous, often reaching four 
hundred in number ; they are arranged in w horls, of which the 
lower ones are always sufficiently obvious. 
* Flor. Dan. 1469, (on the authority of Smith). 
f E, Tehnateia scapo fructificante dense vaginato, fronde sterili ramoso- 
veiticillata. — Hoff. Deiitsch. Flor. ii. 3. 
