Fern Allies . 
139 
it is of a pale green colour, and consists of a tough and 
rather decumbent stem, surrounded with whorls of 
thread-like branches, its true leaves, if it has any, being 
in the form of minute scales, placed around points or 
rings which occur at regular intervals on the stems. 
The plant is known to country people as the “ horse- 
tail” or “ mareVtail,” and in botany is called Equi- 
setum arvense , the field Equisetum. Though a trouble- 
some weed, and one that is detested where it grows 
plentifully, it is well worth a place in the fernery, and 
when planted in a shady bank of peat, it spreads fast, 
and makes its appearance in all sorts of places, but does 
not drive better things out of the way, or even render 
itself objectionable. I have some of it in a shady part 
of my fernery, and very much enjoy the mixture of its 
elegant light green spray with such ferns as Onoclea 
sensibilis, and others that have bold-looking fronds. 
Those who know this plant, as probably most of our 
readers do, will be, perhaps, prejudiced in favour of the 
genus to which it belongs. But whether such be the 
case or not, I wish to recommend these plants to the 
notice of fern-growers, as suited to contribute in a 
special manner to the interest of a collection of acro- 
genous plants. I have all the species that are known, 
and one of them I consider the most elegant of all 
plants ever seen upon the face of the earth. This gem 
is called Equisetum sylvaticum , one stem of which is 
represented in the accompanying figure. If the reader 
can imagine a nine-inch pot, with about fifty of these 
stems crowded together in it, all of them arching over 
with exquisite grace, like feathers from the tails of birds 
