Equisetum arvense

Common horsetail, Common Horsetail

Family: Equisetaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Common horsetail is a native perennial found in northwestern California, Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada, Central Valley, Central Coast, San Francisco Bay Area, southern Coast Ranges, southwestern California, Modoc Plateau, eastern Sierra Nevada, and Mojave Desert in streambanks, wet meadows, springs, and other wet, shaded places at elevations up to 3,050 meters. This distinctive plant produces two types of stems: green sterile stems 10 to 60 centimeters tall with multiple branches, and ephemeral brown fertile stems 11 to 32 centimeters long. Growing with jointed, hollow stems that have distinctive ridged branches, it features dark-tipped sheaths with 6 to 14 teeth. Its branches have 3 to 4 rounded ridges and emerge from basal internodes that are longer than the surrounding sheaths. In wet habitats, this horsetail forms dense, distinctive clusters with its segmented, green stems that give it a distinctive, prehistoric appearance.

Habitat: Streambanks, wet meadows, springs, other wet, shaded places

Elevation: < 3050 m

Bioregions: NW (exc NCoRH), CaR, SN (exc Teh), GV, CCo, SnFrB, SCoRO, SW (exc ChI), MP, SNE, DMoj (exc DMtns)

California counties: San Mateo, San Bernardino, Santa Cruz, San Joaquin, San Diego, Tuolumne, Trinity, Plumas, Shasta, Sonoma, Tulare, Butte, Mono, Los Angeles, Riverside, Fresno, Orange, El Dorado, Humboldt, Inyo, Kern, Lake, Madera, Marin, Mariposa, Mendocino, Modoc, San Francisco, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Alameda, Placer, Amador, Nevada, Calaveras, Alpine, Santa Clara, Lassen, Del Norte, Napa, Monterey, Sierra, Yolo, Siskiyou, Tehama, Yuba, Colusa, Sacramento, Contra Costa, Ventura, Stanislaus, Solano

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.