Online Virtual Flora of Wisconsin - Equisetum sylvaticum

Equisetum sylvaticum L.

Family: Equisetaceae

wood horsetail, woodland horsetail

[Equisetum sylvaticum var. multiramosum L., more...]

Christopher Noll

Mary Ann Feist

Open Interactive Map

Etymology: Equisetum: Latin for "horsetail" from equus, "horse," and seta, "bristle"
Plants: perennial fern ally
Habitat: moist, shaded areas
Conservation Status: Native

Moist shaded areas, especially seepage peatlands, edges of bogs, wet shrub thickets, and low sandy woods, very common in northern and central Wisconsin, but widely scattered and rare in southern Wisconsin. The sheaths are pale green below, somewhat inflated and widened above. Teeth are thin, papery, and reddish-brown, fused into 3 or 4 groups of 2--5 each. Young fertile shoots emerging in spring are fleshy, pale brown and lack branches at first. The cone is on a short stalk and round at the top. Fertile and sterile stems are similar later, both with branches which rebranch.