Horse Tail
Common Scouring Rush
Equisetum hyemale
Photographed at Mesquite Wash, Maricopa Co., Arizona. April 2008.
PERENNIAL: Upright, unbranched stems rising to a height of maybe
one meter. The stems are hollow and can be pulled apart at the joints.
A number of stems may grow together in a clump.<
LEAVES: Leaves are reduced to scale-like sheaths around the stems at
each joint.
RANGE: Found throughout North America, but in the Sonoran Desert it is
rare occurring only in very mesic habitats as at shady, perennial springs.
FRUIT: Technically no fruit. Spores are borne in cones at tips of
reproductive shoots.
FLOWERS: None. This ancient lineage of plants precedes flowering plants.
Instead horse tails reproduce via spores.
UNARMED