General: Perennial from a felty-hairy, tuber-bearing rhizome.
Stems: 10-80 cm tall, 3-5 mm thick, with their central cavity less than 1/2 the stem diameter, regularly branched, the sheaths with 10-16 pointed teeth; branches in regular whorls, triangular in cross-section; the 1st internode of branches longer than the corresponding stem sheaths; fertile stems appearing in spring before sterile stems, about 10-15 cm tall, pale brown, unbranched, dying after the spores are shed, the sheaths 4-6, pale brown with 6-12 darker teeth.
Cones: 1-4 cm long, with solid centres, rounded on the tops.
Wet to mesic sandy or disturbed sites, streambanks, open places and shady forests from the lowland and steppe to alpine zones; common throughout BC; circumpolar, N to AK, YT and NT, E to NF and S to SC, GA, AL, MS, TX, NM, AZ, CA and MX; Greenland, Eurasia, N. Africa, New Zealand.
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/intolerant. submontane to subalpine. circumpolar horsetail (transcontinental in North America). Grows on nitrogenmedium soils within tundra, boreal, temperate,. and mesothermal climates. Common on water-receiving (floodplain. Seepage, springs and ephemeral streams) sites, frequently dominant in early-seral communities and forest openings. Characteristic of disturbed sites.
BC Ministry of Environment:BC Species and Ecosystems Explorer,
the authoritative source for conservation information in British Columbia.
Synonyms and Alternate Names
Equisetum arvense var. alpestre Wahlenb. Equisetum arvense var. boreale (Bong.) Rupr. Equisetum arvense var. campestre Wahlenb. Equisetum arvense var. riparium Farw. Equisetum calderi B. Boivin
