Horsetails List |
Deciduous List |
Horsetail Family [Equisetaceae] |
Sterile Stems: to 80cm erect or sprawling, thick simple branches |
Fertile Stems: white-pinkish, unbranched, spores Apr-May |
category
category
status
petals
(0)stem
stem
(6-20)stem
toxicity
APRIL - EARLY IN THE SEASON |
19th April 2016, grassy sands, Hall Road, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
The leafless fertile growths appear usually before the sterile photosynthetic stems. |
19th April 2016, grassy sands, Hall Road, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
The fertile stems are white or pinkish with fawn and grow to 30cm or so. They lack chlorophyll and cannot photosynthesize. As does the similar and common Great Horsetail, and the less common Shade Horsetailand Wood Horsetail. |
19th April 2016, grassy sands, Hall Road, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
The sheath around each slightly swollen node has spreading and long teeth. |
19th April 2016, grassy sands, Hall Road, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
The fertile tips are encircled by numerous rings of hexagonal brown discs, angled outwards, with numerous off-white spore sacs peeping out like teeth. |
19th April 2016, grassy sands, Hall Road, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
The white spore sacs are sometimes known as 'teeth' for a good reason. |
19th April 2016, grassy sands, Hall Road, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
The arrangement of the spore-sacs, hanging downwards, differs from the otherwise very similar Great Horsetail where they instead are directed inwards, and less obviously seen. |
19th April 2016, grassy sands, Hall Road, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
The numerous spore-sacs are attached to hexagonal brown plates. |
19th April 2016, grassy sands, Hall Road, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
Hexagonal plates. |
19th April 2016, grassy sands, Hall Road, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
Mis-shapen creamy-white sacs containing the spores. They fall off when ripe. |
19th April 2016, grassy sands, Hall Road, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
Brown hexagonal plate with raised edging. |
MAY - A LITTLE LATER IN THE SEASON |
17th May 2009, on banks of a brook, The Burrs, Bury, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
The whorls of leaves (branches) up the stem have not yet fully grown in length. |
17th May 2009, on banks of a brook, The Burrs, Bury, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
Both stems and branches have teeth around each node. The nodes will readily detach if pulled. |
17th May 2009, on banks of a brook, The Burrs, Bury, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
The leaves (branches) have spreading and acutely-tapered teeth at each node. Branches 1-2mm in diameter are wavy and solid (not hollow). |
17th May 2009, on banks of a brook, The Burrs, Bury, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
The stems have long teeth, as many as there are ridges (6-18). |
17th May 2009, on banks of a brook, The Burrs, Bury, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
JULY - EVEN LATER IN THE SEASON |
5th July 2014, by a ditch, Rimrose Valley Country Pk, Waterloo, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
5th July 2014, by a ditch, Rimrose Valley Country Pk, Waterloo, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
Mature branches can be quite long and devious. |
5th July 2014, by a ditch, Rimrose Valley Country Pk, Waterloo, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
Stems 2.5 - 4mm diameter, sometimes slightly rough with usually 9-13 shallow rounded ridges, but up to 6-18. The inner 1/3 of the stem is hollow as well as a ring of smaller hollow areas surrounding the central area. Stems without a tough stele (i.e. are easily pulled apart or broken). |
5th July 2014, by a ditch, Rimrose Valley Country Pk, Waterloo, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
The branches are 4-angled (as are those of Wood Horsetail and sometimes Wilmot's Horsetailand Dyce's Horsetail. Sheath teeth are 2-ribbed |
Not to be semantically confused with : Horse-radish (Armoracia rusticana) nor with Horse-Chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum), Horseshoe Vetch (Hippocrepis comosa) nor to Hybridizes with :
Many similarities to : Great Horsetail (Equisetum telmateia) which, along with the less common Uniquely identifiable characteristics Distinguishing Feature : see text and captions. Grows in grassland and damp grassy places, dune-slacks, rough, waste and cultivated ground and gardens where it is a persistent weed hard to eliminate. It is abundant throughout the UK and is much the more frequent horsetail in the drier grassy and waste places.
The branches of the photosynthetic stems are 4-angled for Field Horsetail and for Wood Horsetail (Equisetum sylvaticum) [as opposed to 3-angled for The main stems, on the other hand, usually have more ridges: On Field Horsetail they number between 6-20 and are rounded ridges (rather than the 18-60 (up to 60) shallow grooves of the similar Great Horsetail (Equisetum telmateia). It is toxic to consume, particularly for horses. More toxic than most species of Horsetail.
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Equisetum (Horsetails) |
Horsetail Family [Equisetaceae] |