BRITISH FERNS. 
II6 
ones. It is the only one of the group used as food 
for cattle. Linnaeus says it is cut up and given to 
cows in Sweden, and that it increases the supply of 
milk. In Lapland the reindeer eat it greedily even 
in a dry state. Mr. Knapp, in his ‘Journal of a 
Naturalist,’ gives an account of a colony of short-tailed 
water rats who subsisted upon this plant. And as 
they fed upon its hard stems, the sound of them 
gnawing was heard at a great distance. 
MARSH HORSETAIL. 
EQUISETUM TALUS TEE. 
This species has roughish stems and loose sheaths, 
the teeth of which are pale, wedge-shaped, and tipped 
with black. Both kinds of stems are sometimes 
branched, the branches numerous jointed, ascending, 
and with four or five ribs. The cones are oblong, an 
inch in length, stalked, and with many white capsules, 
It is very common in marshy places in Great Britain. 
ROUGH HORSETAIL OR DUTCH RUSHES. 
EQUISETUM H YE MALE. 
THIS is par excellence the species of Horsetail which 
exhibits the peculiar structure of the family and 
which gives it its reputation as a siliceous vegetable 
production. It has simple stems, two to three feet 
