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