Equisetum arvense L.

• Authority

  Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

• Family

  Equisetaceae

• Scientific Name

  Equisetum arvense L.

• Description

  Species Description - Stems annual, dimorphic, the sterile ones 1.5–6(–10) dm, 1.5–5 mm thick, (4–)10–14-ridged, with well developed vallecular cavities and small central cavity ca 1/4 the diameter of the stem; the stomates in 2 broad bands in the furrows, the sheath 5–10 mm, with persistent, brown, free or partly connate teeth 1.5–2 mm; branches regularly whorled at the middle and upper nodes, 3–4-angled, solid, sometimes again branched, the first internode longer than the associated stem- sheath; fertile stems whitish to brownish, precocious and soon withering, to 3 dm, simple, to 8 mm thick, their sheaths 14–20 mm, with large, partly connate teeth 5–9 mm; cones long-pedunculate, 0.5–3.5 cm, not apiculate. Cosmopolitan, somewhat weedy; in moist to moderately dry habitats throughout our range.

• Common Names

  common horsetail, field-horsetail