45 
EQUISETUM TELMATEIA. Ekrkart. 
( Great Water ITorse Tail.) 
Derivation of Name. From eq^am., a Eorse, and eeta.^ a hair, 
whence its English name Horsetail. 
SYXOXYME. 
Eqxhsetum FLIJVIATILE. Linncdusff)^ Smith. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Fertile Stem simple, from four inches to a foot high ; 
light brown colour ; from each joint springs a loose sheath 
which extends to the next joint and is fringed with from 
ten to thirty teeth. At the end of the stem is the fruitful 
Spike fi-om one to three inches long, consisting of several 
whorls of brown scales, beneath which appear the 
Capsitles filled with the minute spores. 
Barren Stems appear after the fertile ones have withered, 
are of a pale green colour, and from a few inches to ten or 
twelve feet high. At each joint is a many toothed sheath 
and a whorl of branches again much divided, at each joint 
of which is a four toothed sheath. The barren stems appear 
about the beginning of May and the fertile ones in March. 
This is a most noticeable and beautiful plant when grow- 
ing in favourable situations. I have seen the barren stems 
