208 
BRITISH TERNS. 
60. Equisetum arvense, Linn. Field Horsetail. 
Caudex creeping. Stems of two kinds : barren roughest, 
ending in a point, copiously branched ; fertile stout and short, 
simple. Cone elongated. 
The Field Horsetail has a long, much branched, 
creeping caudex, which is cylindrical and jointed like 
the stems, bearing its whorls 
of roots as they bear their 
whorls of branches. 
The barren stems are some- 
times erect, sometimes ob- 
lique, or even decumbent ; 
they attain a height of from 
2 to 3 feet, and are copiously 
branched along their whole 
extent. The furrows and 
ridges are from ten to sixteen, 
the latter studded with flinty 
particles; the sheaths are also 
farrowed, and cut into the 
same number of teeth as there are ridges on the stem. 
The colour of the whole frond is a pale yellowish-green, 
the joints are about twenty-one in number, and the 
branches, being often 10 inches long, overlap one ano- 
ther, and give the frond the bushy appearance so sug- 
gestive of the English name of the family. 
The fertile stem rises from the ground early in the 
spring, ripens its fruit, and dies down before the luxu- 
riant barren frond attains maturity. It grows to a 
height of about 9 inches, has about eight joints, is suc- 
culent, pale-brown, hollow, nearly smooth, and with 
loose, smooth sheaths cut into about ten dark brown 
