Equisetum ramosissimum
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Division: Polypodiophyta
Class: Polypodiopsida
Subclass: Equisetidae
Order: Equisetales
Family: Equisetaceae
Genus: Equisetum
Subgenus: E. subg. Hippochaete
Species:
E. ramosissimum
Binomial name
Equisetum ramosissimum
Desf.[1]
Subspecies
  • E. ramosissimum var. ramosissimum
  • E. ramosissimum var. huegelii, syn. "E. ramosissimum subsp. debile", E. debile

Equisetum ramosissimum Desf., known as branched horsetail,[2] is a species of evergreen horsetail (genus Equisetum, subgenus Hippochaete).[1]

Description

Horsetail with untidy branches from the lower parts (which may be prominent or not apparent), with or without main upright stems, able to form a colony from underground roots. Rocky ground tends to constrict root-spread and favours a bushy appearance, unrocky ground favours more slender plants arising from spreading roots, and trampling or cutting affects shape. The general colour may have a blue-grey tinge, sometimes quite strongly, the stem when broad is fairly hollow and compressible, narrower branches rather tough and wiry, the stem ridges are conspicuous (not fine and obscure) and slightly rough. The fertile cones when visible are from stems arising as part of the main plant (not arising early separately) and have pointed cone tips (sometimes obscure).

Habitat: Damp places (stream banks, moist meadows, watered edges, path edges) and shingle.[3][4][5]

Subspecies and ranges

  • var. ramosissimum (syn. subsp. ramosissimum) has more obvious branching and persistent sheath teeth – Europe (except far N), W and S Asia, Africa (except mid-west), with some local introduction in the US.[6]
  • var. huegelii (Milde) Christenh. & Husby (syns. subsp. debile, E. debile) inconspicuously branched, with sheath teeth falling early or persistent – SE Asia to Indonesia and Papua New Guinea[7][8]
Vegetative growth

References

  1. 1 2 "Equisetum ramosissimum", The Plant List, retrieved 2016-01-05
  2. ↑ BSBI List 2007 (xls). Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. Archived from the original (xls) on 2015-06-26. Retrieved 2014-10-17.
  3. ↑ Clive Jermy. The illustrated Field Guide to Ferns and Allied Plants of the British Isles, 1991.
  4. ↑ Tutin. Flora Europaea.
  5. ↑ Davis. Flora of Turkey and the East Aegean Islands, vol. 1.
  6. ↑ Plants of the World Online (with map) (ssp ramosissimum)
  7. ↑ Plants of the World Online (with map) (ssp huegelii = debile)
  8. ↑ Flora of China


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