Equisetum hyemale
Scouring Rush, Horsetail
Southern Europe, Asia and North America

Erect habit
3-5 feet tall
The flowering structure of Equiseturn is the sporophyll borne at the stem terminal.
 
The leaves of the horsetail family are scale-like and are marginally united into a sheath around each node. The obvious feature of scouring rush is the evergreen stem which is hollow, conspicuously jointed and furrowed by many ridges. The stems look like bamboo canes without leaves.
 
Invasive and difficult to get rid of once it gets established. Called scouring rush because it contains silica crystals in the plant tissue which work as an abbrasive.
 
Equisetum is from equus for horse and seta for bristle. The barren stems supposedly made one think of a horse's tail.

 

 
Copyright© 2000 -