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Field Horsetail (Equisetum arvense)

Family: Horsetail (Equisetaceae)
Spores: May
Field Marks: This Equisetum has many slender stems arising from the main stem in whorls.
Habitat: Along streams, wet ground; common in railroad ballast.
Habit: Annual herb.
Stems: Of 2 kinds: the cone-bearing stem unbranched, brownish to 10 inches tall; the sterile stems up to 2 feet tall, green, with whorls of slender branches.
Leaves: Reduced to whorls of slender teeth at each joint on the stem.
Cones: Borne at the tips of unbranched stems, narrowly ovoid, up to 1 inch long.

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U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
URL: http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/plants/floramw/species/equiarve.htm
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Page Last Modified: Thursday, 03-Aug-2006 11:39:25 EDT
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