Field Horsetail

Field Horsetail, Scouringrush

Equisetum arvense L.

Equisetaceae (Horsetail Family)

▲ young shoots emerging in spring

▲ ▼ colony of mostly vegetative shoots (fertile shoots are brownish with cone-- center below)

▲ hillside of field horsetail in Alaska

Field Horsetail, Scouringrush:

  • a native creeping perennial herbaceous gymnosperm, which produces rhizomes and its fruit is a cone
  • has two types of stems, fertile, unbranched stems that look like little brown bamboo sticks growing in colonies in moist soils (6-24" tall)
  • other stem type (vegetative) is shorter, appearing to be more branched, but actually has needle-like leaves arranged in whorls (3-10" tall)
  • toxic to livestock if over 20% in hay--can cause death in horses and cattle
  • prefers moist soils, but can be found in upland, heavy soils in reduced tillage crops, streambanks, pondbanks, roadsides, rangeland, pasture
  • similar species, common scouringrush:
    • has bright green, mostly unbranched stems growing 6-36 inches tall or more, with dark bands between segments of the stem
    • stems are evergreen
    • found almost exclusively in moist or wet soils along streams, ponds, roadsides

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