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Equisetaceae - Horsetail Family

Waves of Grain Index - Not Grass

Equisetaceae - Horsetail Family

Common Scouringrush (Horsetail) Equisetum hyemale

Bamboo-like, can grow to 5 feet tall, usually unbranched, rough longitudinal ridges.  Evergreen hollow stem, 1"-4" joints, dark bands are leaves.  Terminal cone (strobilus), 1" tall, pointed, grow on shorter fertile stems, produce spores.  Grows in dense clumps from rhizomes in moist soils.

Stems are high in silica so people used them to polish metal, wood ivory.  Horses like to eat the plant but cows do not.

Photos taken in Taylor County, Texas, May 2007

(Purchased, native of Texas - but not in my area)

Similar Species

Smooth Scouringrush Equisetum laevigatum

Like E. hyemale except for smooth surface, annual stems, and darker leaf band.  Unbranched or whirls of fine branches.  Terminal cone (strobilus), blunt, green.

(Native of Texas - but not in my area)

Interesting Species

Field Horsetail Equisetum arvense

2"-24" tall.  Fertile stems are shorter, develop first, yellow, succulent.  Blunt cones, 1/2"-11/2" tall, produce spores.  Sterile stems have 1" joints, hollow,  terminate in a naked point, up to 20 whirls of slender branches with scale-like leaves.  Rhizomes have storage tubers and can regularly grow to 40" deep and occasionally 6 feet deep.  Spores require water to germinate but plants can live on dry sites and is fire tolerant.

(Native of Texas - Panhandle)

Waves of Grain Index - Not Grass

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