20 EQUISETACEAE (HORSETAIL FAMILY) 



seasons may sometimes be found on one plant ; but broken and 

 empty, for the spores are cast and germinate in the spring. 



Means of control 



Drainage of the ground. The presence of the weed is indicative 

 of unwholesome soil conditions. After drainage, one or two sea- 

 sons of thorough cultivation will destroy the rather shallow-growing 

 rootstocks and cause the plant to disappear. Distribution of the 

 spores may be prevented by cutting the fronds in the first season, 

 when they are immature. 



FIELD HORSETAIL 



Equisetum arvense, L. 



Other English names : Meadow Pine, Green Foxtail Rush, Pinetop, 

 Pine Grass, Snake Grass. 



Native. Perennial. Propagates by 



spores and by rootstocks bearing 



small tubers. 

 Spore-bearing stems appear : April to 



May. 



Sterile stems produced: All summer. 

 Range: American continent from 



Greenland to Alaska, southward to 



Virginia and California. 

 Habitat : Damp grasslands, moist road 



embankments. 



In early spring one may note large 

 colonies of the fertile stems of these 

 plants, mere cylindrical, light brown, 

 leafless stalks, four to eight inches 

 high, jointed, hollow, and tipped with 

 yellowish, club-shaped, spore-bearing 

 heads. Each joint is ridged and 

 grooved and edged with a brown 

 sheath, notched with eight to a dozen 

 teeth. The joints readily pull apart. 

 These early, fertile plants scatter their 



FIG. 3. -Field Horsetail (Equi- S P or . es to the ds and wither an <* 

 setum arvense). x i. die in a few weeks. But later, from 



