[ 929 1
E Q U I S E T U M limofum.
Smooth N a k ed Horfe-tail.
CRYPTOGAM!A Elites.
tjEisr. Char. Catkin compôfed o f peltate (cales,
flowering on their infide. Partial calyx of a
valves. Seeds numerous, naked, enfolded by 4
pollen-bearing filaments.
S pec. Char. Stem partly naked, flnooth as well as
the branches. Catkin terminal.
Syn. Equifetum limofum. Linn. Sp. Pi. 1517*
Hudf. 4 4 8 . With. 755. Hull. 0.34 . Relh. 3 8 5 .
Sibth. 264. A b bot.iib.. Bolt. Fil. 68. t. 38.
E. nudum lævius noftras. Bait Syn. 1.3 1 . t. 5. / . 2.
O n e of thé mod common of its genus in watery marfhy
places, where it comes to perfection and fructifies early in
June.
Root perennial, creeping. Stems ereCt, 2 feet high, jointed,
furrowed, quite fmooth to the touch, fimple and quite naked
in their lower part, but towards the top generally fet with a
few fimple, ereCt, whorled branches, which are furrowed and
fmooth like the Item. The teeth of all the (heaths are a little
blackifli. Catkin folitary, terminal, large, ovate, brown, com -
pofed of many feries of clofe-fet fcales, producing feeds as in
E . byemale, t. 915.
The Equifetum mentioned in Ray’s Synopfis, 132,, n. 12,
appears to have been a fpecimen with more branches than
ufual. Many have confounded the plant before us with the
Jluviatile of Linnaeus, who himfelf did not well underltand
their differences. The latter is a much larger plant, bearing
its fruftification on early fimple (talks, as in E . arvenfe, while
its principal (terns are whorled from top to bottom with numerous
very long fpreading branches, and produce no catkins.