Equisetum
Sign in to saveEquisetum (; horsetail) is the only living genus in Equisetaceae, a family of vascular plants that reproduce by spores rather than seeds.
AI overview
Equisetum, commonly known as horsetail, is a type of plant that reproduces through spores instead of seeds and is the sole surviving genus of its plant family. These vascular plants are notable for being ancient survivors from an earlier era of plant evolution when similar species were much more abundant and diverse.
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Taxonomy · GBIF
GENUS
- KingdomPlantae
- PhylumTracheophyta
- ClassPolypodiopsida
- OrderEquisetales
- FamilyEquisetaceae
via GBIF · CC0
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- taxon
- Parent taxon
- Equisetaceae
- Image
- Equisetum arvense foliage.jpg
Show 4 more facts
- P105
- genus
Article
22 sectionsContents
- Etymology
- Description
- Spores
- Cell walls
- Taxonomy
- Species
- Evolutionary history
- Subgenus ''Paramochaete''
- Subgenus ''Equisetum''
- Subgenus ''Hippochaete''
- Unplaced to subgenus
- Named hybrids
- Hybrids between species in subgenus ''Equisetum''
- Hybrids between species in subgenus ''Hippochaete''
- Phylogeny
- Distribution and ecology
- Consumption
- Folk medicine and safety concerns
- See also
- References
- Further reading
- External links
Equisetum (; horsetail) is the only living genus in Equisetaceae, a family of vascular plants that reproduce by spores rather than seeds.
Equisetum is a "living fossil", the only living genus of the entire subclass Equisetidae, which for over 100 million years was much more diverse and dominated the understorey of late Paleozoic forests. Some equisetids were large trees reaching to tall. The genus Calamites of the family Calamitaceae, for example, is abundant in coal deposits from the Carboniferous period. The pattern of spacing of nodes in horsetails, wherein those toward the apex of the shoot are increasingly close together, is said to have inspired John Napier to invent logarithms. Modern horsetails first appeared during the Jurassic period.