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Species
Equisetum arvense L.
IUCN
NCBI
EOL Text
Isotype for Equisetum saxicola Suksd.
Catalog Number: US 828924
Collection: Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Botany
Verification Degree: Card file verified by examination of alleged type specimen
Preparation: Pressed specimen
Collector(s): W. N. Suksdorf
Year Collected: 1892
Locality: Skamania, Washington, United States, North America
- Isotype: Suksdorf, W. N. 1901. Deutsche Bot. Monatsschr. 19: 92.
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Rights holder/Author | This image was obtained from the Smithsonian Institution. Unless otherwise noted, this image or its contents may be protected by international copyright laws. |
Source | http://collections.mnh.si.edu/search/botany/?irn=2150910 |
More info on this topic.
More info for the term: geophyte
Geophyte
Among the many infraspecific taxa that have been named in this species, Equisetum arvense var. boreale Bongard has been most generally accepted and has been applied to plants with tall, erect stems with 3-ridged branches. Because both 3-ridged and 4-ridged branches may occur on a single stem, the variety boreale is not recognized here as distinct (R.L. Hauke 1966).
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Rights holder/Author | eFloras.org Copyright © Missouri Botanical Garden |
Source | http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=233500616 |
The native Common Horsetail is found in every county of Illinois, where it is quite common (see Distribution Map). This horsetail is widely distributed in both North America and Eurasia. Habitats include non-sandy savannas and sandy savannas, black soil prairies, sand prairies, gravel prairies, dolomite prairies, prairie remnants along railroads, thickets, fens, seeps, ditches, roadsides, open areas along railroads (including the gravel ballast), old fields, and waste areas. Common Horsetail is often found in degraded areas, where it is rather weedy. It also occurs in higher quality habitats, especially in open areas where the soil is rather sandy or gravelly. Faunal Associations
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Rights holder/Author | Copyright © 2002-2014 by Dr. John Hilty |
Source | http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/grasses/plants/cm_horsetail.htm |
The accepted scientific name for field horsetail is Equisetum arvense L.
Fernald [19] listed E. a. var. boreale (Bong.) Ledeb., a northern
variety. There are a number of named forms that are not accepted by
most authors as true forms; they may be growth variants that depend on
environmental conditions and are not sufficiently distinct to warrant
taxonomic recognition [9,69].
Field horsetail and water horsetail (E. fluviatale) will hybridize de
novo where they occur together. The product, E. x litorale Kuhlewein is
sterile, but vegetatively vigorous and persistent [23].
More info for the term: facultative wetland species
Field horsetail is a facultative wetland species [27]. Field horsetail
occurs in woods, fields, meadows and swamps, and moist soils alongside
streams, rivers, and lakes, and in disturbed areas [9,25]. Field
horsetail usually occurs on moist sites but can also be found on dry and
barren sites such as roadsides, borrow pits, and railway embankments
[9,35]. Under suitably moist climatic conditions, gametophytes occur on
newly deposited mud flats and gravel banks of rivers and lakes [14].
In the Adirondack Mountains of New York, field horsetail occurs from 210
to 2,100 feet (64-640 m) in elevation [42]. In Alaska, field horsetail
is widely distributed from sea level to alpine communities. On alpine
sites it is found on heaths, moist meadows, and rocky slopes [56].
Field horsetail is found at a wide range of elevations. Elevational
distributions from selected western states are as follows [13]:
Utah 4,700 to 8,000 feet (1,400-2,400 m)
Colorado 5,100 to 10,800 feet (1,500-3,290 m)
Wyoming 4,900 to 9,700 feet (1,500-3,000 m)
Montana 2,900 to 4,600 feet ( 880-1,400 m)
More info on this topic.
Strobiliferous shoot buds are initiated in July, August and into
September. Vegetative buds are initiated in October and November.
Strobiliferous buds elongate early in spring (March to May, depending on
latitude), usually before the vegetative stems elongate [29]. Emergence
is earliest in dry sandy places, later in wet or clay soils [9]. Spores
are shed in early May in the Adirondack Mountains of New York [42]. The
strobiliferous shoots die after the spores are shed [4]. Sterile stems
emerge in May, producing branches after they are 3 to 5 inches (8-12 cm)
in height [9,33].
Stems are killed by hard frost but may live into winter in areas where
they are protected [9]. Gametophytes are killed by frost; they do not
live longer than one growing season [14].
field horsetail
common horsetail
horsetail
bottlebrush
foxtail
queue de renard
pinetop
jointed rush
horse pipes
mare's tail
snake grass
More info for the terms: fern, selection, shrub
Field horsetail is abundant in many spruce communities, including white
spruce (Picea glauca), black spruce (P. mariana), blue spruce (P.
pungens), and Engelmann spruce (P. engelmannii). In Alberta and British
Columbia, other common understory species in the white spruce
communities in which field horsetail is abundant include prickly rose
(Rosa acicularis), honeysuckle (Lonicera involucrata), bunchberry
(Cornus canadensis), twinflower (Linnea borealis), naked miterwort
(Mitella nuda), and mountain fern moss (Hylocomium splendens) [1].
Field horsetail is a common indicator or herbaceous layer dominant for
mesic, hygric, and subhygric sites [3,26,40]. It occurs or is an
herbaceous layer dominant in a number of riparian associations, with
overstories of spruce, cottonwood (Populus spp.), willow (Salix spp.),
paper birch (Betula papyrifera), or alder (Alnus spp.) [3,30,44].
Field horsetail occasionally dominates sites lacking a woody overstory;
such sites are usually adjacent to a forest or shrub community [27]. In
Alberta field horsetail dominates low shores of channels and lakes with
water horsetail, water sedge (Carex aquatilis), and pendent grass
(Artophila fulva) [47].
A selection of publications naming field horsetail as an indicator or
herbaceous layer dominant is as follows:
Old growth forests of the Canadian Rocky Mountain national parks [1]
Classification of the riparian vegetation of the montane and subalpine
zones in western Colorado [3]
Forest community types of west-central Alberta in relation to selected
environmental factors [10]
Classification and management of riparian and wetland sites in central
and eastern Montana [26]
Riparian dominance types of Montana [27]
Habitat types on selected parts of the Gunnison and Uncompahgre
National Forests [38]
Riparian zone associations: Deschutes, Ochoco, Fremont, and Winema
National Forests [39]
Coniferous forest habitat types of northern Utah [48]
Wetland community type classification for west-central Montana [70]
Forest habitat types of Montana [53]
Vegetation and soils along the Dempster Highway, Yukon Territory:
I. Vegetation types [57]
Forest habitat types of eastern Idaho-western Wyoming [71]
A riparian community classification study [67]
Riparian community type classification of eastern Idaho-western
Wyoming [68]