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E Q ^ U I S E T U M .
L in . Gen. Plan. i i 6 g .
E Q_U I S E T U M fylvaticum.
L in , Sp. PI. 1 516. Flo. Ang. 447. Scot. 664. Cant. 383. Ray
Syn. 1 3 1 . Ger. Fm. 1 1 1 4 . Park. 1201 .
L A B. XXXIII.
W O O D H O R S E T A I L .
Fr o m a brown, jointed, fibrous, tough, creeping root, the fertile ihoots
begin to appear about the end of March, or beginning o f April.
Thefe ihoots at their firft appearance are of a dark rufty-brown colour
on the outfide, which is compofed of feveral vaginæ, o f a thin filmy fubftance,
and lie over one another in an imbricated order ; each feparate
vagina is divided in three or four dents at the rim, and marked with
about twelve ftriæ at the bafe, as at b. From the uppermoft of thefe
vaginæ the flower fpike appears ; it is o f an oval or oblong figure, confifts
o f numerous hexangular ftiields, clofe thruft together, their upper or
naked part o f a pale brown colour, and a fmooth furface. As it advances
in growth, thefe fhields feparate, and the feminal valves under each ihield
are librated, and difcharge the feeds in form o f a foft, downy, bluifh
powder. By this time the ftem has attained the height of eight or ten
inches ; it is of a fmooth furface, and a pale-green colour. The fecond
leaves make their firft appearance like little teeth, in a circle, round
the bafe o f the uppermoft vagina, as expreifed in the Plate at a ; where
I have ftiewn them at the bafe o f the third vagina. When this firft circle
has made fome progrefs in growth, another circle begins to appear
in like manner, at the bafe of the fecond vagina, and thus proceeds
downwards, as is expreffed in the fhoot a. Tab. 34.
The