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Equisetum hyemale - (image 1 of 2)

Taxonomy

Family: Equisetaceae

Habitat

Streambanks and other moist or wet places.

Associates

Distribution

Circumboreal, south in America to FL, CA, and Central America.

Morphology

Fertile and sterile stems alike, evergreen, mostly unbranched, erect, 4-14 mm diameter; ridges mostly 16-50, broad, rounded; central cavity at least 75% of the diameter of the stem; stomates in 2 rows in each furrow; sheaths black-banded above and usually also at or near the base; sheath teeth dark, scarious-margined, basally connate, irregularly persistent; strobili short-pedunculate, 1-2.5 cm, apiculate.

Notes

Strobilli produced May and June

Wetland indicator: FAC

Our plants are var. affine which tends to have less persistent sheath teeth. Can hybridize with other Equisetum spp.

References

Gleason, Henry A. and A. Cronquist. 1991. Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada. Second Ed.
The New York Botanical Garden. Bronx, NY

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