CRYPTOGAMIA. MISCELLANEA. Equisetum. 975 
feet in height by the ruin of the ancient church at Walton, near Clevedon, 
Somersetshire. Anglesey. Welsh Bot. E.) P. May—June.* 1 
E. limo'sum. (Catkin terminal, elliptical: stem partially naked, 
smooth, as also the branches. E.) 
Bolt. Fil. 38—(E. Bot. 929—FI. Dan. 1184. E.j— Ray. 5. 2. at p. 160— 
J.B. iii. 729.3. 
Compared with E. palustre: Whole plant smoother. Root yellowish. 
Stem brown below, scored; not furrowed, {E. palustre is deeply so. E.) 
Sheaths close clasping the stem, the teeth of the lower brown, those of 
the upper black, and smaller than those of E. palustre. Leaves either 
straggling here and there, or in whorls on the middle part of the stem. 
Head dark brown, but not so dark as in E. palustre, also larger. For the 
above reasons I cannot think it a variety of that species. Woodw. ( Stems 
erect, two feet high. A much smaller plant than E. Jluviatile of Linn, 
whose principal stems are whorled from top to bottom with numerous 
very Iqng spreading branches, and produce no catkins. E. Bot. E. 
(We are favoured with the following curious particulars, by James Norris, 
Esq. “ In March, 1794, near Bromham, where a small stream had 
formed a deep channel, my attention was directed to the roots of an 
Equisetum, growing abundantly on the brink of both its perpendicular 
sides; which presented them laid bare to view. The roots were sur¬ 
rounded at their joints by a series of six, seven, or eight bulbs, arranged 
verticillately, sessile, and about the size of a nutmeg, but shaped like a 
fig, with a prominent umbilicus at the larger end. In the succeeding 
April I observed many of these bodies in a state of vegetation, some still 
attached to the parent root, others separate. The young plants were 
then about a finger’s length, issuing from the umbilicus, from whence 
also radical fibres were protruded downwards, and this accompanied with 
a proportionable loss of juice in the sustaining bulb. These were very dif¬ 
ferent in strength, size, and appearance, from the recent shoots imme¬ 
diately proceeding out of the parent root. None of the bulbs were found 
within a foot or more of the horizontal surface of the earth.” These 
bulbs differ much in dimensions from the size of peas to three quarters 
of an inch in diameter. If the full grown bulbs be detached and placed 
in a vessel of water, the process of vegetation maybe conveniently at¬ 
tended to, for the young shoots, in a few days, will burst from the um¬ 
bilical prominence, accompanied by their radical filaments. E.) 
Smooth Naked Horse-tail. {E. Jluviatile. FI. Dan. Welsh: Rhawn 
y march lled-did-dail. Common in the beds of rivers near the banks ; also 
in shallow ponds, and ditches in marshes. P. May—June.t 
E. hyema'le. Stem naked, very rough, somewhat branched at the 
base : (sheaths whitish, black at the top and bottom : teeth deci¬ 
duous : catkin terminal. E.) 
{Hook. FI. Lond. 161— E. Bot. 915. E.)— Bolt. Fil. 39— Cam. Epit. 770. 
A — Ger. 955. 2—Ger. Em. 1113. 2—Park. 1021. 7. 8, right hand jig. 
* (According to Haller this kind was eaten by the Romans ; an assertion hardly credible, 
unless referring merely to the young shoots. Linnaeus states that oxen and rein deer 
are fond of it, but that horses refuse it. Doubtless, from the miserable necessities of 
northern sterility, our great naturalist has reported numerous plants as edible, which are 
scarcely calculated to sustain life. E.) 
t (In Journ. Nat. 138, this plant is deemed a principal food of the water-rat, which is 
described, when feeding thereon, as making an audible “ champing” noise. This noise 
we have frequently remarked beneath the surface of beds of weeds in large ponds, in 
situations unlikely to be haunted by rats ; and have always attributed the sound to some, 
perhaps the like, process, (by suction,) of the finny race, E.) 
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