Fig. 362.
Calamites cannæformis, Schlot. (Foss. Flo. 79.) Lower end with rootlets.
Fig. 363.
Calamites Suckowii, Brong.; natural size. Common in coal throughout Europe.
Equisetaceæ.—To this family belong two species of the genus Equisetites, allied to the living "horse-tail" which now grows in marshy grounds. Other species, which have jointed stems, depart more widely from Equisetum, but are yet of analogous organization. They differed from it principally in being furnished with a thin bark, which is represented in the stem of C. Suckowii ([fig. 363.]), in which it will be seen that the striped external pattern does not agree with that left on the stone where the bark is stripped off; so that if the two impressions were seen separately, they might be mistaken for two distinct species.
The tallest living "horse-tails" are only 2 or 3 feet high in Europe, and even in tropical climates only attain, as in the case of Equisetum giganteum, discovered by Humboldt and Bonpland, in South America, a height of about 5 feet, the stem being an inch in diameter. Several of the Calamites of the coal acquired the height and dimensions of small trees.