230 
FLORA OF FORFARSHIRE. 
coast to nearly the head of Canlochen ; ft. ripe unsually in 
April. 
E. sylvaticum, L. Wood Horse-tail. H. 450, B. 380, 
N. (Phyt. I. 693.) 
Abundant throughout the county, loving especially moist 
woods and the banks of rivers. The catkins appear in May 
and June, and in July the sterile fronds, full-grown and scat- 
tered in myriads through some of the woods, as those of Bal- 
dovan, Balkemnock, &c., afford an enchanting spectacle. 
With the author of the elegant “ History of British Ferns f 
one may say, — “ Altogether I could have fancied it a magic 
scene, created by the fairies for their especial use and plea- 
sure, and sacred to the solemnization of their moon-lit revels. 
It was a forest in miniature, and a forest of surpassing 
beauty.” 
E. limosum, L. Smooth Naked Horse-tail. H. 450, 
B. 380, N. (Phyt. I. 689, and at 532 he shows the branched 
form to be E . jliiviatile, L.) 
Plentiful in pools and lakes, both the forms, branched and 
simple. 
E . palustre, L. Marsh Horse-tail. H. 451, B. 380, N. 
(Phyt. I. 529.) 
Common in marshy places from the coast to the mountain 
summits, very variable in size, in ramification, and in the 
number of angles on the stem, and teeth in the sheath. The 
alpine form (£. alpinum y Hook.), is plentiful about the head 
of Glen Dole, and other parts of Clova, as well as Canlochen. 
The var. nudum, Gibs. (Phyt. 628.), is not unfrequent on 
the Sands of Barrie, a little to the eastward of Monifieth, 
where it is simple or sparingly branched, and from two to 
ten inches high, growing on sand banks. It has also been 
found on these sands by Dr Greville. The usual form is 
abundant on the marshy banks of Rescobie Lake. 
E. liyemale , L. Bough Horse-tail, or Dutch Bushes. 
II. 251, B. 380, N. (Phyt. I. 273.) 
Margin of the Isla in the Den of Airlie, and near Reeky 
Linn ; in both localities bearing catkins in April. 
