/ 
CRYPTOGAMIA. MISCELLANEA. Equisetum. 973 
Wood Horse-tail. Moist woods and shady places near rivulets and in 
boggy ground. P* April—May.* 
Var. 2. Leaves pointing all one way. R. Syn. 131. 5. This happens when 
the stem has been trodden down. 
Var. 3. Leaves very long and very slender. R. Syn. 131. 6. 
In shady and moist situations. It is a variety of E. palustre. Bolt. Leaves 
of a pale yellow green colour. Ibid. 
This change in the habit occasionally takes place in both species., and more 
or less so in almost every plant in similar situations. 
E. arven'se. Fertile stem leafless: barren stem leafy, lying down: 
leaves in whorls. 
Curt. 285— Bolt. Fil. 34— (E. Bot. 2020. E.)—Kniph. 1 — Dod. 73. 2— Lob. 
Ic. i. 795. 2— C. B. Th. 247, the right hand part of the figure — Blackw. 
217. 3 and 4 —Fuchs. 322— J. B. in. 730. 1—Trag. 6 92. 2— Louie, i. 176. 
2— Matth. 1027— Cam. Epit. 771 —Dod. 73. 4 —Lob. Obs. 461. 3, Ic. i. 
794. 2 —Ger. Em. 1114. 5— Park. 1202. 11— Fuchs. 322— J.B. iii. 729. 2 
— Ger. 956. 3. 
Fertile stems appearing before the other; soon decaying. Barren stems 
continuing a long time. Linn. Barren stems rough, slender. Leaves 
twelve to fifteen in a whorl, somewhat branched. Leers. Stalk from a 
hand’s breadth to a foot high, cylindrical, smooth, jointed, the upper 
knots farther distant, the lower approaching nearer to each other; each 
joint terminating in a sheath. Sheaths furrowed, wider than the stalk, 
many-cleft: segments spear-shaped, tapering to a point. Spike yellowish 
white, nearly an inch long, the base encircled with a membranous yellow¬ 
ish border. Fructifications in whorls, yellowish. Pol. Stem when fresh 
roughish, in moist shady situations smooth and somewhat shining. 
Sheaths in such situations scored with green. Sheaths with four teeth 
corresponding to the angles of the leaves, of the same colour with the 
leaves. W oodw. Boot cylindrical, with threads from the joints, stiff!sh, 
woolly, dark brown. Stalk fleshy, with several cylindrical tubes within, 
a central one, with nine others three or four times smaller, disposed in 
a circle round it; and another nine exceedingly minute between them 
and the central one; yellowish brown, semi-transparent, obscurely 
marked with nine scores. Sheaths somewhat tumid, of a silvery brown, 
with nine furrows: segments nine, pointed, somewhat approaching. 
Stalks, sheaths furrowed at the stem, cloven one third of the way down: 
teeth blackish brown at the ends, with very shallow white membranous 
edges. Leaves, the joints of the upper branches frequently three-square, 
and the joints terminating in three teeth: teeth open. St. The fertile 
stems not to be distinguished from those of E. sylvaticum before the 
leaves appear, but by observing that the sheaths in E. sylvaticum are 
divided into twelve segments; in this species only into three or four. 
Corn Horse-tail. (Welsh: Bhawn y march yr dr dir. Gaelic : Ea rbull 
eicii. E.) Moist corn-fields. P. March—April.t 
* (Horses are said to be fond of this species, and in the north of Europe it is sometimes 
preserved for winter fodder. E.) 
j* (This plant has a very strong astringent and diuretic quality. If eaten by cows, it 
occasions an incurable diarrhoea. Med. and Phys. Journ. We presume its action upon 
the intestines may be chiefly mechanical, considering the sharp rough angles and points 
which its structure exhibits, and the abundance of flinty earth pervading its cuticle. E. Bot. 
