Common Name: HORSETAIL FAMILY Habit: Perennial herb from rhizome. Stem: annual to perennial herb, generally erect, of 2 kinds (sterile, fertile) or not; internodes with lengthwise alternating ridges and grooves, hollow except at nodes, branches 0 or whorled, alternate leaves. Leaf: scale-like, whorled, fused into nodal sheath with as many teeth as leaves, generally not green. Sporangia: several on inner surface of peltate scales that are clustered into a terminal cone; spores of 1 kind, spheric, green, unmarked, with 4 strap-like appendages. Genera In Family: 1 genus, 15 species: worldwide except Australia, New Zealand. eFlora Treatment Author: Robert E. Preston & Richard L. Hauke Scientific Editor: Alan R. Smith, Thomas J. Rosatti.
Etymology: (Latin: horse, bristle, from roots of Equisetum fluviatile L.)
Equisetum arvense L.
NATIVE Stem: annual, of 2 kinds. Sterile Stem: 10--60 cm, green; basal internode of branch > subtending sheath; sheath 3--8.5 mm, +- as long as wide, teeth 6--14, 1.5--3.5 mm, dark, often joined but not fused; branch with 3--4 rounded ridges, solid. Fertile Stem: 11--32 cm, unbranched, fleshy, brown, ephemeral; sheath 5--11 mm, > that of sterile stem, teeth 6--10, 3--7.5 mm. Ecology: Streambanks, wet meadows, springs, other wet, shaded places; Elevation: < 3050 m. Bioregional Distribution: NW (exc NCoRH), CaR, SN (exc Teh), GV, CCo, SnFrB, SCoRO, SW (exc ChI), MP, SNE, DMoj (exc DMtns); Distribution Outside California: North America, Europe, Asia. Jepson eFlora Author: Robert E. Preston & Richard L. Hauke Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange) Previous taxon: Equisetum Next taxon: Equisetum ×ferrissii
Botanical illustration including Equisetum arvense
Citation for this treatment: Robert E. Preston & Richard L. Hauke 2012, Equisetum arvense, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=24416, accessed on April 25, 2024.
Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2024, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on April 25, 2024.
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(Note: any qualifiers in the taxon distribution description, such as 'northern', 'southern', 'adjacent' etc., are not reflected in the map above, and in some cases indication of a taxon in a subdivision is based on a single collection or author-verified occurence).
Data provided by the participants of the
Consortium of California Herbaria.
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Blue markers indicate specimens that map to one of the expected Jepson geographic subdivisions (see left map). Purple markers indicate specimens collected from a garden, greenhouse, or other non-wild location.
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CCH collections by month
Duplicates counted once; synonyms included.
Species do not include records of infraspecific taxa, if there are more than 1 infraspecific taxon in CA.
Blue line denotes eFlora flowering time (fruiting time in some monocot genera).
