Shady Horsetail
Scientific name: Equisetum pratense L.
Diagnostic features
Vegetative stems to 50cm, deciduous, rough to touch, with whorls of thin branches often sightly swept to 1 side, with (8)12-20 rounded ridges.
Cones on shorter, pale shoots at first unbranched but then resembling others, rounded at apex.
Chromosome number: 2n=216.
Habitat
Native; banks of rivers and streams, often on open soil in shade, and flushed grassy areas, mostly upland.
Distribution
Local in British Isles South to Northwest Yorks and Fermanagh.
Note
Often not coning.
This species is keyed out on Page 6 and Page 16 of the Text Key.
Hybrid
- Equisetum x mildeanum Rothm. (= Equisetum pratense x Equisetum sylvaticum) occurs in 3 sites in Mid & East Perth, in Midlothian and in Outer Hebrides; it is intermediate in all respects and no cones have been found. |
