Stems: 10-60 cm tall, 1-4 mm thick, their central cavity 1/2 the stem diameter, regularly and richly branched, the sheaths with 8-18 teeth which remain fused and form 3-4 groups; branches with 3-4 ridges, branched again, the 1st internodes of the main branches longer than the corresponding sheaths.Cone1-3 mm long, rounded at the tip.
Moist to wet forests, meadows, clearings, swamps and bog margins in the montane zone; frequent in BC east of the Coast-Cascade Mountains; circumpolar, N to AK, YT and NT, E to NF and S to MA, PA, WV, OH, MI, WI, SD, WY, MT and WA; Eurasia.
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range. (Updated August, 2013)
A shade-tolerant, submontane to subalpine, circumpolar horsetail (transcontinental in North America, but present only in the northern part of the Pacific region). Occurs in continental boreal and cool temperate climates on moist to wet, nitrogen-poor soils. Common, often dominant, in coniferous forests on water-receiving sites with gleysolic and organic soils in the coast -interior ecotone. Occasional on flooded sites, in peat bogs, and on recent burns and clearings. Its occurrence increases with increasing latitude and continentality. An oxylophytic species characteristic of Mor humus forms.
