[ad. mod.L. generic name calamītes, f. L. calamus reed; see -ITE.]
1. Palæont. A fossil plant, of a genus or order abundant in the Coal Measures, of which the stems are found in jointed fragments, ribbed and furrowed. They are generally considered to have been allied to the existing Equisetaceæ or Mare’s-tails, but their stem was furnished with wood and bark.
1837. Penny Cycl., VII. 293/2. Calamites have been found with a diameter of fourteen inches.
1842. H. Miller, O. R. Sandst., vii. (ed. 2), 175. Some plant resembling a calamite of the Coal Measures.
1873. Dawson, Earth & Man, v. 104. Calamites, gigantic and overgrown mares’-tails.
2. Min. A variety of tremolite (white hornblende) occurring in crystals sometimes reed-like.
1882. Watts, Dict. Chem., III. 169. Calamite is an asparagus-green variety of tremolite, found … in Sweden.
† 3. ‘A name given by some to the osteocolla .. others have called some of the fossile coralloides by this name.’ Obs.
1753. Chambers, Cycl. Supp.
