''Equisetum palustre'', the marsh horsetail, is a

perennial In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...

herbaceous Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition of ...

pteridophyte A pteridophyte is a vascular plant (with xylem and phloem) that reproduces by means of spores. Because pteridophytes produce neither flowers nor seeds, they are sometimes referred to as " cryptogams", meaning that their means of reproduction is ...

belonging to the subclass of horsetails (

Equisetidae Equisetidae is one of the four subclasses of Polypodiopsida (ferns), a group of vascular plants with a fossil record going back to the Devonian. They are commonly known as horsetails. They typically grow in wet areas, with whorls of needle-like ...

). It is widespread in cooler regions of

Eurasia Eurasia ( , ) is a continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. According to some geographers, Physical geography, physiographically, Eurasia is a single supercontinent. The concept of Europe and Asia as distinct continents d ...

and

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

Description

''Equisetum palustre'' has stems growing between 10-60 cm tall. The upright stems are usually scarcely branched with loose green leaf sheaths that have 5-10 narrow, dark teeth. The teeth are light at the edges. The lowest internode of the upright branches are much shorter than the leaf sheath of the stem.Hyde, H. A., Wade, A. E., & Harrison, S. G. (1978). ''Welsh Ferns''. National Museum of Wales . The rough, furrowed stem is 1–3 mm diameter, with usually 8–10 ribs, in rare cases, 4–12; it bears a variable number of whorled branches. The

spore In biology, a spore is a unit of sexual reproduction, sexual (in fungi) or asexual reproduction that may be adapted for biological dispersal, dispersal and for survival, often for extended periods of time, in unfavourable conditions. Spores fo ...

s are spread by the wind (

anemochory In spermatophyte plants, seed dispersal is the movement, spread or transport of seeds away from the parent plant. Plants have limited mobility and rely upon a variety of dispersal vectors to transport their seeds, including both abiotic vectors, ...

) and have four long ribbon-like structures attached to them. The spores sit on

strobili A strobilus (: strobili) is a structure present on many land plant species consisting of sporangia-bearing structures densely aggregated along a stem. Strobili are often called cones, but some botanists restrict the use of the term cone to the woo ...

which are rounded on the top. Marsh horsetails often form runners, with which they also can proliferate vegetatively.

Taxonomy

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

was the first to describe marsh horsetail with the

binomial Binomial may refer to: In mathematics *Binomial (polynomial), a polynomial with two terms *Binomial coefficient, numbers appearing in the expansions of powers of binomials *Binomial QMF, a perfect-reconstruction orthogonal wavelet decomposition * ...

''Equisetum palustre'' in his ''

Species Plantarum ' (Latin for "The Species of Plants") is a book by Carl Linnaeus, originally published in 1753, which lists every species of plant known at the time, classified into genus, genera. It is the first work to consistently apply binomial nomenclature ...

'' of 1753.

Ecology

''Equisetum palustre'' is green from spring to autumn and grows

s from June to September. It grows primarily in nutrient-rich

wet meadow A wet meadow is a type of wetland with soils that are Solubility, saturated for part or all of the growing season which prevents the growth of trees and brush. Debate exists whether a wet meadow is a type of marsh or a completely separate type of ...

s. It is found in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and the circumpolar region up to mountainous heights. Its distribution is declining. In Finland, it has benefited from human action and grows often in road and track sides, ditches and especially peat based fields and pastures. A specific

plant association A plant community is a collection or association of plant species within a designated geographical unit, which forms a relatively uniform patch, distinguishable from neighboring patches of different vegetation types. The components of each plant ...

in which ''E. palustre'' is found is the ''Juncus subnodulosus''-''Cirsium palustre'' fen-meadow.

Toxicity

''Equisetum palustre'' is

poisonous A poison is any chemical substance that is harmful or lethal to living organisms. The term is used in a wide range of scientific fields and industries, where it is often specifically defined. It may also be applied colloquially or figurati ...

to mammals, most often reported as potentially fatal to horses, as it contains alkaloids

palustrine Palustrine wetlands include any inland wetland that contains ocean-derived salts in concentrations of less than 0.5 parts per thousand, and is non- tidal. The word ''palustrine'' comes from the Latin word ''palus'' or marsh. Wetlands within this ...

and palustridiene, which destroy vitamin B₁. According to Wink, ''Equisetum palustre'' also contains thiaminase

enzyme An enzyme () is a protein that acts as a biological catalyst by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrate (chemistry), substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different mol ...

s. It is also known to contain lesser amounts of nicotine. Many thiaminases, however, are denatured by heat, and some sources refer ''Equisetum palustre'' safe to eat in moderate amounts when properly cooked.''https://poisonousplants.ansci.cornell.edu/toxicagents/thiaminase.html'' Cornell University, Department of Animal Science - Plants Poisonous to Livestock In Finland, it used to lower the production of dairy when cows would eat them in place of other preferable

fodder Fodder (), also called provender (), is any agriculture, agricultural foodstuff used specifically to feed domesticated livestock, such as cattle, domestic rabbit, rabbits, sheep, horses, chickens and pigs. "Fodder" refers particularly to food ...

Gallery

File:EquisetemPalustreKythira.jpg, Marsh horsetail in

Kythira Kythira ( ; ), also transliterated as Cythera, Kythera and Kithira, is an island in Greece lying opposite the south-eastern tip of the Peloponnese peninsula. It is traditionally listed as one of the seven main Ionian Islands, although it is dist ...

References

Flora of North America: ''Equisetum palustre''

External links

* Walkowiak R. J.,
Equisetum palustre L.
', IEA Collection of Equisetum, 2019 {{Taxonbar, from=Q21122 palustre Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Flora of Northern America Flora of Europe Flora of Asia