Water Horsetail
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae Division: Pteridophyta Class: Equisetopsida Order: Equisetales Family: Equisetaceae Genus: Equisetum Species: E. fluviatile
Binomial name
Equisetum fluviatile L.

The Water Horsetail (Equisetum fluviatile), also known as the Swamp Horsetail, is a perennial horsetail that commonly grows in dense colonies along freshwater shorelines or in shallow water, growing in ponds, swamps, ditches, and other sluggish or still waters with mud bottoms. It is a herbaceous species, growing 30-100 cm (rarely 140 cm) tall with erect dark green stems 2-8 mm in diameter, smooth, with about 10-30 fine ridges. At each joint, the stem has a whorl of tiny, black-tipped scale leaves 5-10 mm long. Many, but not all, stems also have whorls of short ascending and spreading branches 1-5 cm long, with the longest branches on the lower middle of the stem. The side branches are slender, dark green, and have 1-8 nodes with a whorl of five scale leaves at each node. The Water Horsetail has the largest central hollow of the horsetails, with 80% of the stem diameter typically being hollow. Scientific classification redirects here. ... Divisions Green algae land plants (embryophytes) non-vascular embryophytes Hepatophyta - liverworts Anthocerophyta - hornworts Bryophyta - mosses vascular plants (tracheophytes) seedless vascular plants Lycopodiophyta - clubmosses Equisetophyta - horsetails Pteridophyta - true ferns Psilotophyta - whisk ferns Ophioglossophyta - adderstongue ferns seed plants (spermatophytes) †Pteridospermatophyta - seed ferns Pinophyta - conifers Cycadophyta - cycads Ginkgophyta - ginkgo Gnetophyta - gnetae Magnoliophyta - flowering... Classes Marattiopsida Osmundopsida Gleicheniopsida Pteridopsida A fern, or pteridophyte, is any one of a group of some twenty thousand species of plants classified in the Division Pteridophyta, formerly known as Filicophyta. ... Species Subgenus Equisetum Equisetum arvense - Field or Common Horsetail Equisetum bogotense - Andean Horsetail Equisetum diffusum - Himalayan Horsetail Equisetum fluviatile - Water Horsetail Equisetum palustre - Marsh Horsetail Equisetum pratense - Shade Horsetail Equisetum sylvaticum - Wood Horsetail Equisetum telmateia - Great Horsetail Subgenus Hippochaete Equisetum giganteum - Giant Horsetail Equisetum myriochaetum - Mexican Giant Horsetail Equisetum hyemale... Species Subgenus Equisetum Equisetum arvense - Field or Common Horsetail Equisetum bogotense - Andean Horsetail Equisetum diffusum - Himalayan Horsetail Equisetum fluviatile - Water Horsetail Equisetum palustre - Marsh Horsetail Equisetum pratense - Shade Horsetail Equisetum sylvaticum - Wood Horsetail Equisetum telmateia - Great Horsetail Subgenus Hippochaete Equisetum giganteum - Giant Horsetail Equisetum myriochaetum - Mexican Giant Horsetail Equisetum hyemale... Species Subgenus Equisetum Equisetum arvense - Field or Common Horsetail Equisetum bogotense - Andean Horsetail Equisetum diffusum - Himalayan Horsetail Equisetum fluviatile - Water Horsetail Equisetum palustre - Marsh Horsetail Equisetum pratense - Shade Horsetail Equisetum sylvaticum - Wood Horsetail Equisetum telmateia - Great Horsetail Subgenus Hippochaete Equisetum giganteum - Giant Horsetail Equisetum myriochaetum - Mexican Giant Horsetail Equisetum hyemale... Species The horsetails are vascular plants, comprising 15 species of plants in the genus Equisetum. ... Latin name redirects here. ... Carl Linnaeus, Latinized as Carolus Linnaeus, also known after his ennoblement as  , (May 13, 1707[1] – January 10, 1778), was a Swedish botanist, physician and zoologist[2] who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of nomenclature. ... Red Valerian, a perennial plant. ... Species The horsetails are vascular plants, comprising 15 species of plants in the genus Equisetum. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article is about the plants used in cooking and medicine. ... Look up foliage in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

The stems readily pull apart at the joints, and both fertile and sterile stems look alike.

The Water Horsetail reproduces both by spores and vegetatively by rhizomes. It primarily reproduces by vegetative means, with the majority of shoots arising from rhizomes. Spores are produced in blunt-tipped cones at the tips of some stems. The spore cones are yellowish-green, 1-2 cm long and 1 cm broad, with numerous scales in dense whorls. This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... For other uses, see Rhizome (disambiguation). ...

The Water Horsetail ranges throughout the temperate Northern Hemisphere, from Eurasia south to central Spain, northern Italy, the Caucasus, China, Korea and Japan, and in North America from the Aleutian Islands to Newfoundland, south to Oregon, Idaho, northwest Montana, northeast Wyoming, West Virginia and Virginia. Northern hemisphere highlighted in yellow. ... For other uses, see Eurasia (disambiguation). ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Caucasus Mountains. ... This article is about the Korean civilization. ... North American redirects here. ... Aleutians seen from space The Aleutian Islands (possibly from Chukchi aliat, island) are a chain of more than 300 small volcanic islands forming an island arc in the Northern Pacific Ocean, occupying an area of 6,821 sq mi (17,666 km²) and extending about 1,200 mi (1,900... Newfoundland —   IPA: [nuw fÉ™n lænd] (French: , Irish: ) is a large island off the east coast of North America, and the most populous part of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. ... This article is about the U.S. state. ... -1... This article is about the U.S. State. ... Official language(s) English Capital Cheyenne Largest city Cheyenne Area  Ranked 10th  - Total 97,818 sq mi (253,348 km²)  - Width 280 miles (450 km)  - Length 360 miles (580 km)  - % water 0. ... Official language(s) none (de facto English) Demonym West Virginian Capital Charleston Largest city Charleston Largest metro area Charleston metro area Area  Ranked 41st in the US  - Total 24,230 sq mi (62,755 km²)  - Width 130 miles (210 km)  - Length 240 miles (385 km)  - % water 0. ... This article is about the U.S. state. ...

This horsetail is sometimes seen as an invasive species because it is very hardy and tends to overwhelm other garden plants unless it is contained. When planting, it is best to plant them with the rhizome in a container. Lantana invasion of abandoned citrus plantation; Moshav Sdey Hemed, Israel The term invasive species refers to a subset of introduced species or non-indigenous species that are rapidly expanding outside of their native range. ...

The Water Horsetail is most often confused with the Marsh Horsetail E. palustre, which has rougher stems with fewer (4-8) stem ridges with a smaller hollow in the stem centre, and longer spore cones 2-4 cm long.

Uses

The Water Horsetail has historically been used by both Europeans and Native Americans for scouring, sanding, and filing because of the high silica content in the stems. Early spring shoots were eaten. Medically it was used by the ancient Greeks and Romans to stop bleeding and treat kidney ailments, ulcers, and tuberculosis, and by the ancient Chinese to treat superficial visual obstructions. Rootstocks and stems are sometimes eaten by waterfowl. Horsetails absorb heavy metals from the soil, and are often used in bioassays for metals. For other uses, see Europe (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Native Americans (disambiguation). ... The chemical compound silicon dioxide, also known as silica, is the oxide of silicon, chemical formula SiO2. ... The kidneys are the organs that filter wastes (such as urea) from the blood and excrete them, along with water, as urine. ... Endoscopic images of a duodenal ulcer. ... Tuberculosis (abbreviated as TB for tubercle bacillus or Tuberculosis) is a common and deadly infectious disease caused by mycobacteria, mainly Mycobacterium tuberculosis. ... Falcated Duck at Slimbridge Wildfowl and Wetlands centre, Gloucestershire, England Wildfowl or waterfowl, also waterbirds, is the collective term for the approximately 147 species of swans, geese and ducks, classified in the order Anseriformes, family Anatidae. ... Loess field in Germany Surface-water-gley developed in glacial till, Northern Ireland For other uses, see Soil (disambiguation). ...

According to Carolus Linnaeus, reindeer, which refuse ordinary hay, will eat this horsetail, which is juicy, and that it is cut as fodder in the north of Sweden for cows, with a view to increasing their milk yield, but that horses will not touch it. Carl Linnaeus, Latinized as Carolus Linnaeus, also known after his ennoblement as  , (May 13, 1707[1] – January 10, 1778), was a Swedish botanist, physician and zoologist[2] who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of nomenclature. ... Caribou redirects here. ... COW is an acronym for a number of things: Can of worms The COW programming language, an esoteric programming language. ... A glass of cows milk. ... Binomial name Equus caballus Linnaeus, 1758 The horse (Equus caballus, sometimes seen as a subspecies of the Wild Horse, Equus ferus caballus) is a large odd-toed ungulate mammal, one of ten modern species of the genus Equus. ...

External links

• [1] - basic information on the Water Horsetail.