Equisetum pratense

Meadow Horsetail

Meadow Horsetail
Photo © 2002 by Earl J.S. Rook

Flora, fauna, earth, and sky...
The natural history of the northwoods

Name:

• Equisetum, from the Latin, equus, "horse", and seta, "bristle, animal hair"
• pratense, from the Latin, pratum, "meadow"
• Meadow Horsetail, from its preferred habitat
• Other common names include Shade Horsetail, Shady Horsetail, Prêle des Prés (Qué), Ängsfräken (Swe), Engsnelle (Nor), Lund-Padderok (Dan), Lehtokorte (Fin), Vallelfting (Is), Wiesen-Schachtelhalm (Ger), Hvostch Meadowovoii (Rus), Earball an Eich Dubharach (Gaelic), Aasosi, heinamaa kuusk, kaseosi, nurmekuusk (Estonia)

Taxonomy:

• Kingdom Plantae, the Plants
  • Division Equisetophyta, the Horsetails
    • Class Equisetopsida, the Horsetails
      • Order Equisetales, the Horsetails
        • Family Equisetaceae, the Horsetails
          • Genus Equisetum, the Horsetails
• Taxonomic Serial Number: 17159

Description:

• A delicate and airy plumed horsetail of the cool north.
• Stems dimorphic; slender, erect, hollow, and annual. Central canal about 1/6 to 1/3 diameter of the stem.
  • Sterile stems to 18", upright and whitish green; branched, with long, thin, tapering tip and 10-18 minutely roughened ridges. Internodes about 1" apart.
  • Fertile Stems to 15", upright, brown; initially unbranched, branching and greening up only after cones have disappeared.
• Branches 5" long, thin and delicate, straight, smoothed, solid, 3-sided, and unbranched; horizontal to drooping; borne in whorls. First branch segment not longer than adjacent stem sheath. Teeth deltoid, slightly incurving, with thin white margins.
• Leaf Sheaths pale, 2-6 mm long, 2-4.5 mm wide, with 8-10 brown, white-edged teeth, 1.5-4 mm long.
• Rhizomes dull, black, slender, deeply creeping, and branching.
• Roots black, wiry kinky.
• Cones 1" long, blunt tipped, on very long stalks; at the tips of fertile stems.

Identification:

• Identifiable as a Horsetail by the upright, hollow, jointed, cylindrical stems with inconsequential and easily overlooked leaves.
• Distinguished from our other Horsetails by its deltoid branch teeth on horizontal to drooping branches. Further distinguished:
  • from Field Horsetail (Equisetum arvense) by its stems, all of which are green and have whorls of branches. Only Field Horsetail has small, brown, unbranched, fertile stems.
  • from Wood Horsetail (Equisetum sylvaticum) by the absence of compound branching.
  • from Marsh Horsetail (Equisetum palustre) by its branches which are horizontal to drooping, rather than ascending
  • from Water Horsetail (Equisetum fluviatile) by its terrestrial habitat and much smaller central hollow
• Field Marks
  • horizontal to drooping branches in whorls
  • deltoid teeth on branches

Distribution:

• Circumpolar, Alaska to Newfoundland, south to British Columbia, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, New York, and New Jersey.
• Eurasia south to Britain, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Russia, Manchuria, NE China, Korea, and Hokkaido.

Habitat:

• Moist woods, thickets, and meadows
• Partial shade to full sun.

Fire:

Associates:

History:

Uses:

Reproduction:

• Reproduces by spores and vegetatively by rhizomes
• Primarily reproduces by vegetative means; the majority of shoots arise from rhizomes.

Propagation:

• By rhizome division

Cultivation:

• Hardy to USDA Zone 2 (average minimum annual temperature -50ºF)
• Cultural Requirements
• Sun to part shade
• Soil wet to moist
• Fertilization unnecessary
• Good for naturalizing low, wet areas
• Available by mail order from specialty suppliers

Links:

• Den Virtuella Floran, Naturhistoriska riksmuseet, Stockholm

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