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Equisetum scirpoides
Also called Delicate Horsetail, Sedgelike horsetail, Dwarf scouring rush, Sedge-like horsetail, Dwarf Horsetail, Sedge Horsetail
Dwarf scouringrush is the smallest horsetail, forming compact, dense clumps of unbranched green stems in cold northern wetlands and gravelly ground. It is grown mainly as a hardy native for cold-climate gardens and needs cool, moist conditions with sun to light shade.
Equisetum scirpoides (dwarf scouring rush or dwarf horsetail) Michx., Fl. Bor.-Amer. 2: 281 (1803). 2 n = 216. The smallest of the currently occurring representatives of the genus Equisetum (horsetail).
The smallest Equisetum, E. scirpoides has circumpolar distribution. Plants create compact and dense clumps, reaching a maximum height of about 30 cm (12 in). The assimilation and generative shoots are identical and grow together. The leaves reduced to a black sheath around the stem. The stems are green, unbranched, thick and about 1 mm with six ribs. The generative shoots with small cones dying after sowing the spores. The nodes occur at approximately 1–3 cm (0.4–1.2 in). The leaves are very small to about 1 mm, and arranged in around nodes. The corms are thin, yellow and brown. The roots very fine, black and densely surpassing the ground.
Austria, Finland, Norway, Spitsbergen, Sweden, Greenland, St. Pierre and MiqueIon, Canada (Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, N.W.Territories, Nunavut, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Isl., Quebec, Saskatchewan, Yukon), Alaska, US (Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New York, South Dakota, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin), W-Siberia, C-Siberia, E-Siberia, Amur, Ussuri, Japan, Novaja Zemlja, Kamchatka, N-European Russia, Lithuania, Estonia, C-European Russia, E-European Russia.
Field Horsetail · Southern Giant Horsetail · Rough Horsetail · Marsh horsetail · Great Horsetail · Horsetail
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Equisetum scirpoides by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
