E Q U I S E T Ü M sylvaticum.
Branched Wood Horsetail.
CRYPTOGAMIA Filices.
G en. Char. Catkin composed of peltate scales,
flowering on their inside. Partial calyx of 2
valves. Seeds numerous, naked, enfolded by 4
pollen-bearing filaments.
Spec. Char. Branches compound, curved downwards,
rough.
Syn. Equisetum sylvaticum. Linn. Sp. PL 1516. Sm.
FI. Brit. 1102. Huds. 447. With. 753. Hull.
233. Lightf. 646. Relh. 403. Siblh. 263.
Abbot. 22J. Bolt. Fil. 60. t. 32, 33. Hedw.
Theor. 33. t. 1. Syn. 130. Ehrh. Crypt. 161.
/3. E. sylvaticum procumbens, setis uno versa disposais.
/)///. in Raii Syn. 131.
T h IS very elegant species occurs in moist shady places,
often under dripping rocks, chiefly in the mountainous
counties, fructifying in the early spring. Our specimen was
gathered by Lady Wilson between Glasgow and Edinburgh.
The whole plant conveys the idea of some Indian palm-
tree, with its simple stem, jmd numerous whorls of compound,
drooping, slender, roughish branches, crowned at
the summit by a cone tessellated with peltate scales. Eaclvof
these scales is beset at its back with several bivalve partial
calyxes, enfolding numerous minute seeds, (technically speaking)
naked, that is, destitute of a seed-vessel, though each of
them is enfolded with 4 spiral filaments,'whose powdery
summits are with great reason presumed by Hedwig to perform
the office of anthers, as we have already mentioned, p. 915.
The root of this plant is perennial, the stems annual, 12 or
18 inches high. The branches are generally not pushed forth
till the cone is nearly ripe.