Field horsetail Equisetum arvense

Features

Equisetum arvense, the field horsetail or common horsetail, is an herbaceous perennial plant in the Equisetopsida (the horsetails).

Species	Perrenial
Living space	Field, Meadow
Size	up to 60 cm

Description

The field horsetail is a herbaceous perennial that is widespread in the temperate zone of the northern hemisphere, and in the 1920s it was also transferred to New Zealand, where it was declared an invasive species in the 1990s. Equisetum arvense creeps extensively with its slender and felted rhizomes that freely fork and bear tubers. The erect or prostrate sterile stems are 10–90 cm tall and 3–5 mm diameter, with jointed segments around 2–5 cm long with whorls of side shoots at the segment joints; the side shoots have a diameter of about 1 mm . Some stems can have as many as 20 segments. The solid and simple branches are ascending or spreading, with sheaths that bear attenuate teeth.