68 
F I L I C E S 
BRITANNIC iE. 
E Q^U I S E T U M limofum. 
Sp, PL 15ly* Plo* Ang, 448. Scot. 648. Cant. 385. Ray Syn. 
131. Tab. 5. Fig. 2. Hall. Hifi, 1677. 
FAB. XXXVIII. 
SMOOTH HORSETAIL. 
'^HE root, A, is large, tough, branched, jointed, and vaginated ^ it 
* is of a rufty brown colour, and creeps horizontally under the mud. 
% 
The young fhoots appear in April, and are covered with brown ruft- 
coloured vagina ; each of which is divided in twelve or fourteen black 
acute dents, at the top. The fpaces between the vagina are of a pale 
green, and fmooth furface. 
In the full grown plant, the vaginae change to a pale green, retaining 
only a faint tinge of brown near the bafe of the dents, which ftill remain 
black. The uppermoft vagina of the fertile leaf is paler, more large, 
more lax, and the black dents longer than in the red ; and the ftem 
above it, which fupports the flower fpike, is white. 
The fhields, which compofe the flower fpike, are at firft black, and 
clofe thruft together ; when the fpike opens, the feminal valves are of a 
pale colour, and copioufly difcharge a white powder. 
The 
