Varieties of Horsetail Grass & Plants
- Fertile horsetails are single stalks.Hemera Technologies/Photos.com/Getty Images
Horsetail varieties have similar characteristics. They are hollow stemmed perennial plants that possess a vast, deep-rooted underground rhizome system. These rhizomes can be as deep as 6 feet. Above ground foliage ranges between 6 and 24 inches in height with jointed branches. Sterile horsetails are vegetative and have a bristle-brush or evergreen tree appearance. Fertile horsetails do not have branches or leaves, but have a seed head at the top of their stalks. - Horsetail varieties have been historically used as sandpaper and for scouring.Photos.com/Photos.com/Getty Images
Like all varieties of horsetail, there are fertile and sterile types of field horsetail. The most commonly seen and occurring is the sterile type. Sterile field horsetail starts to appear in most parts of the country in May, and increases in its vigor throughout the summer. It has the appearance of a miniature pine tree. The fertile varieties appear in early spring. They are a single stalk with their spore head on the tip. - Horsetail can be found growing in the same areas as ferns and mosses.Thinkstock/Comstock/Getty Images
Scouring-rush horsetail (Equisetum hyemale) is another commonly found variety of horsetail in the United States. This variety can reach heights of up to 5 feet. The stems are dark green and ridged with jointed nodes. The nodes, which are the points where branches emanate, have black rings and the stems are hollow between the nodes. On female scouring-rush, where are cone-like structure at the stem tips called strobilus. The strobilus contains spores and can be various shades of brown. - Horsetail are often found in areas where it is difficult to alter the environment.Hemera Technologies/Photos.com/Getty Images
Field horsetail and scouring rush are the two most commonly found species in the United Sates, but there are a total of 18 different species and a total of 22 total taxa that occur. Other varieties include water horsetail, giant horsetail, smooth horsetail, marsh horsetail, meadow and woodland horsetail. Scouring-rush types have sub-species including branched scouring-rush, dwarf scouring-rush, variegated scouring-rush and Alaskan scouring-rush.
