Exploring Bellingham: Field Horsetail

Field Horsetail showing it's segmented sections.

Staying in Bellingham through spring has been exciting. We've had our condo for fifteen years, ever since we retired from our education careers in Los Angeles. Yet, we haven't been here for such an extended period during spring.

Our daily walks have let us watch the native plants in natural areas mature. I've photographed a few as they've developed.

Field Horsetail

I took botany in college.  I loved drawing Horsetail in my lab journal. It looked so primitive. That makes sense, it is considered a "living fossil." The genus is over 300 million years old and was prevalent in Paleozoic forests. Some varieties grew to 30 metres tall.

Horsetail emerges in spring from underground rhizomes.

Field Horsetail (Equisetum arvense) grows in moist spots along streams, sandy places, disturbed or open areas and shady forests. It's considered a weed when located in agricultural and landscaped areas, and it can be poisonous if grazing animals eat it in large quantities.

Their deep, interconnected rhizomes (root structure) make them difficult to eradicate.  But in natural settings, they provide a bright green, wispy ground cover.

The thick fertile stems emerge first.

The perennial underground rhizome sends up both fertile and non-fertile stems in spring.

The pale, thick fertile stems poke up first. They have a cone-like, spore-producing structure on top of a non-branching stem. Horsetails reproduce using spores, not seeds.

Non-fertile green stems emerge shortly thereafter. As they continue to grow, the fertile stems die back and disappear under the new bright green growth.

The green non-fertile stems are photosynthetic. The nutrients produced feed the underground rhizome and allow it to survive through winter.

The green non-fertile stems are taking over from the pale fertile ones.

Horsetails incorporate silica in their cell structure, more than most vascular plants.

The stem segments make it look like a horse's tail.

Around a central cavity, the stem is segmented with whorls of fleshy, needle-like leaves at each junction. This makes it look much like the structure of a horse's tail.

Stages of growth: Fertile stems, emerging non-fertile and maturing Horsetails.

Young Horsetail shoots were used in traditional Japanese and First Nation cultures. There are some applications in modern times, but caution must be taken. Do you have a favourite plant from the forest or fields? Tell us about it. -- Margy