Field Horsetail

More info for the term: prescribed fire

Hamilton's Research Papers (Hamilton 2006a, Hamilton 2006b) provide information on prescribed fire and postfire response of many plant species, including field horsetail, that was not available when this species review was originally written.

field horsetail
common horsetail
horsetail
bottlebrush
foxtail
queue de renard
pinetop
jointed rush
horse pipes
mare's tail
snake grass

More info for the term: cover

Field horsetail provides poor to fair cover for wildlife [13].

More info for the terms: rhizome, sporophyte

Field horsetail is a native, perennial, rhizomatous cryptogam.  The sporophyte is dimorphic with unbranched, fertile (stroboliferous), spore-producing stems and branched, sterile stems.  The spores germinate to produce a distinct gametophytic generation.  The prothallus (gametophyte) is tiny, from 0.002 to 0.008 inch (0.5-2.0 mm) in height (occasionally up to 0.016 inch [4 mm] in the center) and irregularly lobed or branched [4,14]. The sterile stems are jointed, hollow, usually erect, and bear up to 20 whorls of slender branches [9].  They are usually from 2 to 24 inches (5-60 cm) tall, rarely to 40 inches (1 m) tall [25].  The inconspicuous, scalelike leaves occur in whorls at the nodes and are connected at their bases.  The fertile stems are nonchlorophyllous and generally are from 2 to 12 inches (5-30 cm) tall [19,25].  The strobili are from 0.4 to 1.4 inches (1-3.5 cm) long, peduncled, and blunt.  The epidermis of both types of stems has regularly arranged, silicified projections [23]. The rhizomes of field horsetail are branched and creeping.  They are similar to the aerial stems except that they are not hollow [9]. Storage tubers are produced on the rhizomes [19].  The rhizomes extend to a depth of 40 inches (100 cm) or more; 50 percent of the total rhizome weight is in the top 10 inches (25 cm) of soil, 23 percent in the next 9.2 inches (23 cm), and the rest deeper [65].  Successive, layered horizontal rhizome systems occur at about 12-inch (30 cm) intervals.  Golub and Wetmore [24] found five such layers by digging to a 6.6 foot (2 m) depth, noting that the system extended even deeper. Root development takes place at the bases of lateral branch buds, both on rhizomes and erect shoots [33].

Field horsetail is cosmopolitan in distribution.  In North America it occurs from Newfoundland west to Alaska and south to Georgia, Alabama, Texas, and California [19,23,25].

More info for the terms: fire regime, fire-return interval, fuel

Field horsetail usually occurs in moist habitats that do not undergo frequent fire.  For example, in Idaho and Montana, it occurs in Fire Group 11 stands (as described by Bradley and others), which have a fire-return interval of 325 to 335 years (plus or minus 50 years).  When fires do occur, however, they are often severe due to high fuel loads. Field horsetail is adapted to survive such fires; it has deep rhizomes that are not killed by even very hot fires [52].  Field horsetail also colonizes disturbed areas or new sites by wind-disseminated propagules, although this is probably rare [7]. FIRE REGIMES: Find fire regime information for the plant communities in which this species may occur by entering the species name in the FEIS home page under "Find FIRE REGIMES".

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More info for the term: geophyte

      Geophyte

More info for the term: facultative wetland species

Field horsetail is a facultative wetland species [27].  Field horsetail occurs in woods, fields, meadows and swamps, and moist soils alongside streams, rivers, and lakes, and in disturbed areas [9,25].  Field horsetail usually occurs on moist sites but can also be found on dry and barren sites such as roadsides, borrow pits, and railway embankments [9,35].  Under suitably moist climatic conditions, gametophytes occur on newly deposited mud flats and gravel banks of rivers and lakes [14]. In the Adirondack Mountains of New York, field horsetail occurs from 210 to 2,100 feet (64-640 m) in elevation [42].  In Alaska, field horsetail is widely distributed from sea level to alpine communities.  On alpine sites it is found on heaths, moist meadows, and rocky slopes [56]. Field horsetail is found at a wide range of elevations.  Elevational distributions from selected western states are as follows [13]: Utah          4,700 to  8,000 feet (1,400-2,400 m) Colorado      5,100 to 10,800 feet (1,500-3,290 m) Wyoming       4,900 to  9,700 feet (1,500-3,000 m) Montana       2,900 to  4,600 feet (  880-1,400 m)

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This species is known to occur in association with the following cover types (as classified by the Society of American Foresters):

More info for the terms: hardwood, swamp

     1  Jack pine
     5  Balsam fir
    12  Black spruce
    13  Black spruce - tamarack
    14  Northern pin oak
    15  Red pine
    16  Aspen
    17  Pin cherry
    18  Paper birch
    19  Gray birch - red maple
    20  White pine - northern red oak - red maple
    21  Eastern white pine
    22  White pine - hemlock
    23  Eastern hemlock
    24  Hemlock - yellow birch
    25  Sugar maple - beech - yellow birch
    26  Sugar maple - basswood
    27  Sugar maple
    28  Black cherry - maple
    30  Red spruce - yellow birch
    31  Red spruce - sugar maple - beech
    32  Red spruce
    33  Red spruce - balsam fir
    34  Red spruce - Fraser fir
    35  Paper birch - red spruce - balsam fir
    37  Northern white-cedar
    38  Tamarack
    39  Black ash - American elm - red maple
    40  Post oak - blackjack oak
    42  Bur oak
    43  Bear oak
    44  Chestnut oak
    45  Pitch pine
    46  Eastern redcedar
    50  Black locust
    51  White pine - chestnut oak
    52  White oak - black oak - northern red oak
    53  White oak
    55  Northern red oak
    57  Yellow-poplar
    58  Yellow-poplar - eastern hemlock
    59  Yellow-poplar - white oak - northern red oak
    60  Beech - sugar maple
    61  River birch - sycamore
    62  Silver maple - American elm
    63  Cottonwood
    64  Sassafras - persimmon
    65  Pin oak - sweetgum
    69  Sand pine
    70  Longleaf pine
    71  Longleaf pine - scrub oak
    72  Southern scrub oak
    73  Southern redcedar
    74  Cabbage palmetto
    75  Shortleaf pine
    76  Shortleaf pine - oak
    78  Virginia pine - oak
    79  Virginia pine
    80  Loblolly pine - shortleaf pine
    81  Loblolly pine
    82  Loblolly pine - hardwood
    83  Longleaf pine - slash pine
    84  Slash pine
    85  Slash pine - hardwood
    87  Sweet gum - yellow-poplar
    88  Willow oak - water oak - diamondleaf oak
    89  Live oak
    91  Swamp chestnut oak - cherrybark oak
    92  Sweetgum - willow oak
    93  Sugarberry - American elm - green ash
    94  Sycamore - sweetgum - American elm
    95  Black willow
    96  Overcup oak - water hickory
    97  Atlantic white-cedar
    98  Pond pine
   100  Pondcypress
   101  Baldcypress
   102  Baldcypress - tupelo
   103  Water tupelo - swamp tupelo
   104  Sweetbay - swamp tupelo - redbay
   107  White spruce
   108  Red maple
   109  Hawthorn
   110  Black oak
   111  South Florida slash pine
   201  White spruce
   202  White spruce - paper birch
   203  Balsam poplar
   204  Black spruce
   205  Mountain hemlock
   206  Engelmann spruce - subalpine fir
   207  Red fir
   208  Whitebark pine
   209  Bristlecone pine
   210  Interior Douglas-fir
   211  White fir
   212  Western larch
   213  Grand fir
   215  Western white pine
   216  Blue spruce
   217  Aspen
   218  Lodgepole pine
   219  Limber pine
   221  Red alder
   222  Black cottonwood - willow
   223  Sitka spruce
   224  Western hemlock
   225  Western hemlock - Sitka spruce
   226  Coastal true fir - hemlock
   227  Western redcedar - western hemlock
   228  Western redcedar
   229  Pacific Douglas-fir
   230  Douglas-fir - western hemlock
   231  Port-Orford-cedar
   232  Redwood
   233  Oregon white oak
   234  Douglas-fir - tanoak - Pacific madrone
   235  Cottonwood - willow
   236  Bur oak
   237  Interior ponderosa pine
   243  Sierra Nevada mixed conifer
   244  Pacific ponderosa pine - Douglas-fir
   245  Pacific ponderosa pine
   246  California black oak
   247  Jeffrey pine
   248  Knobcone pine
   249  Canyon live oak
   250  Blue oak - Digger pine
   251  White spruce - aspen
   252  Paper birch
   253  Black spruce - white spruce
   254  Black spruce -  paper birch
   255  California coast live oak
   256  California mixed subalpine

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This species is known to occur in the following ecosystem types (as named by the U.S. Forest Service in their Forest and Range Ecosystem [FRES] Type classification):

   FRES10  White - red - jack pine
   FRES11  Spruce - fir
   FRES12  Longleaf - slash pine
   FRES13  Loblolly - shortleaf pine
   FRES14  Oak - pine
   FRES15  Oak - hickory
   FRES16  Oak - gum - cypress
   FRES17  Elm - ash - cottonwood
   FRES18  Maple - beech - birch
   FRES19  Aspen - birch
   FRES20  Douglas-fir
   FRES21  Ponderosa pine
   FRES22  Western white pine
   FRES23  Fir - spruce
   FRES24  Hemlock - Sitka spruce
   FRES25  Larch
   FRES26  Lodgepole pine
   FRES27  Redwood
   FRES28  Western hardwoods
   FRES36  Mountain grasslands
   FRES37  Mountain meadows
   FRES38  Plains grasslands
   FRES39  Prairie
   FRES41  Wet grasslands

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This species is known to occur in association with the following plant community types (as classified by Küchler 1964):

More info for the terms: bog, forest, shrub

   K001  Spruce - cedar - hemlock forest
   K002  Cedar - hemlock - Douglas-fir forest
   K003  Silver fir - Douglas-fir forest
   K004  Fir - hemlock forest
   K005  Mixed conifer forest
   K006  Redwood forest
   K007  Red fir forest
   K008  Lodgepole pine - subalpine forest
   K009  Pine - cypress forest
   K010  Ponderosa shrub forest
   K011  Western ponderosa forest
   K012  Douglas-fir forest
   K013  Cedar - hemlock - pine forest
   K014  Grand fir - Douglas-fir forest
   K015  Western spruce - fir forest
   K016  Eastern ponderosa forest
   K017  Black Hills pine forest
   K018  Pine - Douglas-fir forest
   K019  Arizona pine forest
   K020  Spruce - fir - Douglas-fir forest
   K021  Southwestern spruce - fir forest
   K022  Great Basin pine forest
   K025  Alder - ash forest
   K026  Oregon oakwoods
   K028  Mosaic of K002 and K026
   K029  California mixed evergreen forest
   K030  California oakwoods
   K036  Mosaic of K030 and K035
   K046  Desert: vegetation largely lacking
   K047  Fescue - oatgrass
   K048  California steppe
   K049  Tule marshes
   K050  Fescue - wheatgrass
   K051  Wheatgrass - bluegrass
   K052  Alpine meadows and barren
   K053  Grama - galleta steppe
   K054  Grama - tobosa prairie
   K057  Galleta - three-awn shrubsteppe
   K063  Foothills prairie
   K064  Grama - needlegrass - wheatgrass
   K065  Grama - buffalograss
   K066  Wheatgrass - needlegrass
   K067  Wheatgrass - bluestem - needlegrass
   K068  Wheatgrass - grama - buffalograss
   K069  Bluestem - grama prairie
   K070  Sandsage - bluestem prairie
   K072  Sea oats prairie
   K073  Northern cordgrass prairie
   K074  Bluestem prairie
   K075  Nebraska Sandhills prairie
   K076  Blackland prairie
   K077  Bluestem - sacahuista prairie
   K078  Southern cordgrass prairie
   K079  Palmetto prairie
   K080  Marl - everglades
   K081  Oak savanna
   K082  Mosaic of K074 and K100
   K083  Cedar glades
   K084  Cross Timbers
   K085  Mesquite - buffalograss
   K088  Fayette prairie
   K089  Black Belt
   K092  Everglades
   K093  Great Lakes spruce - fir forest
   K094  Conifer bog
   K095  Great Lakes pine forest
   K096  Northeastern spruce - fir forest
   K097  Southeastern spruce - fir forest
   K098  Northern floodplain forest
   K099  Maple - basswood forest
   K100  Oak - hickory forest
   K101  Elm - ash forest
   K102  Beech - maple forest
   K103  Mixed mesophytic forest
   K104  Appalachian oak forest
   K106  Northern hardwoods
   K107  Northern hardwoods - fir forest
   K108  Northern hardwoods - spruce forest
   K109  Transition between K104 and K106
   K110  Northeastern oak - pine forest
   K111  Oak - hickory - pine forest
   K112  Southern mixed forest
   K113  Southern floodplain forest
   K114  Pocosin
   K115  Sand pine scrub
   K116  Subtropical pine forest

Field horsetail is top-killed by most fires.  The rhizomes are particularly resistant to fire because they are buried deep in the mineral soil [39].

Field horsetail is a common food item consumed by grizzly bears [37]. On average, field horsetail formed 2.4 to 5.2 percent by volume of the grizzly bear summer diet in Yellowstone National Park and was ranked 10th out of 32 food items in amount of consumption [49].  Field horsetail occurs in the wet meadows, marshes and moist cirque basins most often visited by grizzly bears in spring [2].  Field horsetail is a minor to important component in the spring and early summer diet of black bears [28,32].  It is of low nutritive value [49]. Field horsetail is not an important range forage for livestock, and excessive amounts (more than 20 percent) in hay can cause scours, paralysis, and death in horses [36].

More info for the terms: fern, forest, herbaceous, mesic, selection, shrub

Field horsetail is abundant in many spruce communities, including white
spruce (Picea glauca), black spruce (P. mariana), blue spruce (P.
pungens), and Engelmann spruce (P. engelmannii).  In Alberta and British
Columbia, other common understory species in the white spruce
communities in which field horsetail is abundant include prickly rose
(Rosa acicularis), honeysuckle (Lonicera involucrata), bunchberry
(Cornus canadensis), twinflower (Linnea borealis), naked miterwort
(Mitella nuda), and mountain fern moss (Hylocomium splendens) [1].

Field horsetail is a common indicator or herbaceous layer dominant for
mesic, hygric, and subhygric sites [3,26,40].  It occurs or is an
herbaceous layer dominant in a number of riparian associations, with
overstories of spruce, cottonwood (Populus spp.), willow (Salix spp.),
paper birch (Betula papyrifera), or alder (Alnus spp.) [3,30,44].

Field horsetail occasionally dominates sites lacking a woody overstory;
such sites are usually adjacent to a forest or shrub community [27].  In
Alberta field horsetail dominates low shores of channels and lakes with
water horsetail, water sedge (Carex aquatilis), and pendent grass
(Artophila fulva) [47].

A selection of publications naming field horsetail as an indicator or
herbaceous layer dominant is as follows:

Old growth forests of the Canadian Rocky Mountain national parks [1]
Classification of the riparian vegetation of the montane and subalpine
   zones in western Colorado [3]
Forest community types of west-central Alberta in relation to selected
   environmental factors [10]
Classification and management of riparian and wetland sites in central
   and eastern Montana [26]
Riparian dominance types of Montana [27]
Habitat types on selected parts of the Gunnison and Uncompahgre     
   National Forests [38]
Riparian zone associations: Deschutes, Ochoco, Fremont, and Winema  
   National Forests [39]
Coniferous forest habitat types of northern Utah [48]
Wetland community type classification for west-central Montana [70]
Forest habitat types of Montana [53]
Vegetation and soils along the Dempster Highway, Yukon Territory:
   I. Vegetation types [57]
Forest habitat types of eastern Idaho-western Wyoming [71]
A riparian community classification study [67]
Riparian community type classification of eastern Idaho-western
   Wyoming [68]

More info for the terms: fern, fern ally

Fern or Fern Ally

More info for the term: rhizome

Field horsetail is a weed in more than 25 crops of the world but is
seldom the worst offender.  It is probably toxic to surrounding
vegetation due to high levels of alkaloids [33].  Field horsetail
increases after soil cultivation with or without the application of
herbicides [8].  It may be at least partially controlled by some
herbicides [51].

Field horsetail is sensitive to moisture stress; drought conditions
result in a reduction in the production of new shoots [8].

Repeated cultivation by hoeing reduces the number of mature shoots per
acre [8].  It is recommended that agricultural land infested with field
horsetail be deep-plowed each season to prevent deep rhizome
development; however, this will probably not be successful if the
rhizomes have already penetrated below plow-depth [33].

More info for the term: fresh

The nutritive value of the sterile shoots of field horsetail, as
percentage of dry weight, is as follows [49]:

protein                  15
nitrogen-free extract    40.6
ether extract             3.7
gross kilocalories        2.9 per gram

Aerial, fresh field horsetail nutritive components, as percentage of dry
weight, are as follows [50]:

dry matter                    100
ash                            18.5
crude fiber                    23.5
ether extract                   2.4
nitrogen free extract          50.3
protein (nitrogen x 6.25)       5.3
digestible protein for
   cattle                       2.4
   goats                        1.5
   horses                       2.0
   rabbits                      2.8
   sheep                        1.9

     AL  AK  AZ  AR  CA  CO  CT  DE  GA  HI
     ID  IN  IA  KS  KY  LA  ME  MD  MA  MI
     MN  MS  MO  MT  NE  NV  NH  NJ  NY  NC
     ND  OH  OK  OR  PA  RI  SC  SD  TN  TX
     UT  VT  VA  WA  WV  WI  WY  AB  BC  MB
     NB  NF  NT  NS  ON  PE  PQ  SK  YT

Native Americans and early settlers used tea made from field horsetail as a diuretic.  Field horsetail was used as a cough medicine for horses. Dyes for clothing, lodges, and porcupine quills were made from field horsetail.  It was used for scouring and polishing objects.  The young shoots were eaten either cooked or raw [40]. Silica extracted from field horsetail is utilized for manufacture of remineralizing and diuretic medicinal products.  Other potential uses of biogenic silica include industrial applications (abrasives, toothpaste, protective cloth, optical fibers, thickeners for paint, etc.), detergents, and cleaners.  Leaf-odor constituents were used widely in th 1970's in perfumes but are little used now.  These constituents can be used as food flavors and flavor enhancers, and as animal repellants [63].

Field horsetail is low in palatability to livestock, deer, and elk [39].

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Strobiliferous shoot buds are initiated in July, August and into September.  Vegetative buds are initiated in October and November. Strobiliferous buds elongate early in spring (March to May, depending on latitude), usually before the vegetative stems elongate [29].  Emergence is earliest in dry sandy places, later in wet or clay soils [9].  Spores are shed in early May in the Adirondack Mountains of New York [42].  The strobiliferous shoots die after the spores are shed [4].  Sterile stems emerge in May, producing branches after they are 3 to 5 inches (8-12 cm) in height [9,33]. Stems are killed by hard frost but may live into winter in areas where they are protected [9].  Gametophytes are killed by frost; they do not live longer than one growing season [14].

More info for the terms: climax, frequency, gametophyte, herbaceous, presence, seed, succession, wildfire

Field horsetail regenerates rapidly after a fire [40].  The frequency of occurrence of field horsetail is usually unchanged or increased after fire.  Gametophyte establishment requires the presence of moist, exposed mineral soils (as well as a source of spores) [7]. In the first summer following a late May, 1983, wildfire in white spruce stands, a number of herbaceous species established from seed.  These included Bicknell geranium (Geranium bicknellii), Corydalis sempervirens, false dragonhead (Dracocephalum parviflorum), and fireweed.  By 1985, they were replaced by more persistent species including field horsetail and bluejoint reedgrass (Calamagrostis canadensis) [61]. In newly burned white spruce sites, field horsetail occurred in most stands within weeks of the fire and gradually increased through postfire succession.  Field horsetail is dominant in the herbaceous layer by 46 to 150 years after fire and persists into the climax stage (300 or more years) [15,21].

More info for the terms: geophyte, ground residual colonizer, herb, rhizome

   Rhizomatous herb, rhizome in soil    Geophyte, growing points deep in soil    Ground residual colonizer (on-site, initial community)    Initial-offsite colonizer (off-site, initial community)

The main mode of reproduction of field horsetail is asexual; conditions for the production of gametophytes from spores are limited and relatively rare [14,45]. Asexual reproduction:  Field horsetail spreads from extensive rhizomes. Even short segments of broken rhizomes (1.2 inches [3 cm]) will sprout [8].  Overwintering buds develop at the nodes of the rhizomes [29]. Sexual reproduction:  The spores of field horsetail are equipped with elaters, which are long appendages that expand and contract with changes in humidity.  Elaters function to dig the spore into the soil surface and to tangle spores together, thereby creating a larger propagule and increasing the probability that prothalli will be close enough to ensure fertilization.  Elaters may also aid in wind dissemination.  Spores released by the strobiliferous stems are dispersed by wind or water. The spores are thin-walled, short-lived, and quickly germinate under moist conditions [31].  The spores germinate to form prothalli:  tiny plants only a few cell layers thick that are usually either male or female, producing only antheridia or archegonia, respectively.  Swimming sperm are released by the antheridia and require water for transport to the egg-containing archegonia.  After fertilization takes place, the sporophytic generation (the identifiable large plant) develops in situ, growing out of the prothallus.

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This species can be found in the following regions of the western United States (according to the Bureau of Land Management classification of Physiographic Regions of the western United States):

    1  Northern Pacific Border
    2  Cascade Mountains
    3  Southern Pacific Border
    4  Sierra Mountains
    5  Columbia Plateau
    6  Upper Basin and Range
    7  Lower Basin and Range
    8  Northern Rocky Mountains
    9  Middle Rocky Mountains
   10  Wyoming Basin
   11  Southern Rocky Mountains
   12  Colorado Plateau
   13  Rocky Mountain Piedmont
   14  Great Plains
   15  Black Hills Uplift
   16  Upper Missouri Basin and Broken Lands

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More info for the terms: climax, cover, cover type, forest, herbaceous, presence, succession

Facultative Seral Species Field horsetail is present in both seral and climax communities; its presence is largely dictated by edaphic conditions rather than shade or other factors.  Field horsetail is an early colonizer on floodplain deposits.  These communities are often destroyed by flooding before beingcan stabilized by willow establishment [62].  Field horsetail continues to be present through succession, occurring under more developed willow-alder communities, as an herbaceous layer dominant with meadow horsetail (Equisetum pratense) under open balsam poplar (Populus balsamifera)/thinleaf alder (Alnus tenuifolia) stands, and in the herbaceous layer of closed balsam poplar/white spruce communities [62]. Field horsetail is an early colonizer of moist, primary successional sites created by glacial retreat [59].  It is among the most common and abundant sprouter in areas disturbed by debris from drilling activity in northern Alaska.  In most of these areas, field horsetail sprouted from rhizomes already present under the debris [17].  Logging or logging and burning may either maintain or increase field horsetail cover, depending on pretreatment levels and forest cover type [12,15].

Equisetum arvense var. alpestre Wahlenb.
E. a. var. boreale (Bong.) Rupr.
E. a. var. riparium Farw.
E. calderi Boivin

The accepted scientific name for field horsetail is Equisetum arvense L.
Fernald [19] listed E. a. var. boreale (Bong.) Ledeb., a northern
variety. There are a number of named forms that are not accepted by
most authors as true forms; they may be growth variants that depend on
environmental conditions and are not sufficiently distinct to warrant
taxonomic recognition [9,69].

Field horsetail and water horsetail (E. fluviatale) will hybridize de
novo where they occur together. The product, E. x litorale Kuhlewein is
sterile, but vegetatively vigorous and persistent [23].