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Horsetail
Scientific Name:
Equisetum hyemale
Type:
Herbaceous Plant
Habitat:
Open and wooded areas near riparian habitats
Range:
North America, Europe, and northern Asia
Status:
Least Concern (IUCN Red List)
This species is
NATIVE
to the Truckee Meadows.
Identification:
Horsetail, also known as scouring rush, is an evergreen, reed-like plant that grows to about 3 feet tall. Their jointed stems are cylindrical and hollow.
Fast Facts:
Horsetails have been around for 400 million years!
Around 350 million years ago, during the Devonian period, horsetail ancestors grew in thick forests tall as trees.
Horsetails reproduce via spores.
The plants have abrasive silica inside the hollow stems. This grittiness was used to scour and clean goods as well as pots and pans.
Sources:
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, Equisetum hyemale, 2016, https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=eqhy
Purdue Extension, The Ancient Horsetail, 2007, https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/WS/WS-29-W.pdf
IUCN Red List, Rough Horsetail, 2014, https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/203003/42381564
Image: Liné1, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Equisetum_hyemale_02_by_Line1.jpg, license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en, cropped from original.
Image: VijghenPh, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Equisetum_hyemale.JPG, license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/deed.en, cropped from original.
Contributor(s):
Haley McGuire (research & content)
Alex Shahbazi (edits & page design)