Horsetail
Equisetum arvense
Also known as
Mares Tail, Horse Pipes, Snake Grass, Common Horsetail, Scouringrush, Western Horsetail, Field horsetail
Photo by claires80 (All rights reserved)
Full Sun
Easy care
Moderate watering
Tender
H6-H2
RHS hardiness
-20°C
Minimum temperature
Expected size
Height | Spread | |
|---|---|---|
60cm | Max | 60cm |
20cm | Min | 20cm |
2 years to reach maturity
More images of Horsetail
Horsetail Overview
Horsetails are upright herbaceous perennials. They are non-flowering plants like ferns and so reproduce through spores and rhizomes. They appear in two forms. The green stems with needle-like structures which are sterile and brown stems with a cone-shaped structure that produces spores for reproduction.
How to harvest Horsetail
Young green shoots can be harvested.
How to propagate Horsetail
Division
Propagation by division.
Special features of Horsetail
Wet sites
Produces brown sporangia that release spores in wet sites.
Other uses of Horsetail
It is the only living genus of the entire class Equisetopsida, which for over 100 million years was much more diverse and dominated the understory of late Paleozoic forests.
Edible
Young green shoots can be harvested and eaten like asparagus