WOOD HORSETAIL, 
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species which has its fertile and barren stems posi¬ 
tively and invariably distinct, the latter not appearing 
until after the former have fructified in the month of 
April 
WOOD HORSETAIL. 
EQUISETUM SYLVATICUM. 
This is really a handsome plant, which cannot be said 
for many of this group; its long drooping branches 
remind one of the form of some tropical cypress, and 
a mass of the plants growing together in our forests 
may be said to resemble a miniature grove of droop¬ 
ing larches. This Horsetail is sometimes called the 
“ fairy larch,” and is really a graceful and elegant 
little plant. Its stems are of two kinds, sterile and 
fertile ; both appearing at the same time. The fertile 
stems are never green or branched when young, but 
remain after the maturity of the spike, and then 
throw off whorls of green graceful branches, lose their 
terminal catkins, and assume an appearance similar 
to the sterile stems, both flourishing together. 
SMOOTH NAKED HORSETAIL. 
EQUISETUM LIMOSUM. 
This is a handsome plant, very frequently found in 
marshy places, ditches, &c. It presents the peculiarity 
of bearing its catkins on stems similar to the barren 
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