dwarf horsetail
Equisetum scirpoides
Because their cell walls accumulate high amounts of silica, these plants are naturally abrasive and were historically used by campers and indigenous peoples as 'scouring rushes' to clean pots.
- Scientific name
- Equisetum scirpoides
- Taxonomy
- Plantae › Tracheophyta › Polypodiopsida › Equisetales › Equisetaceae › Equisetum
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- stable
- Biome
- forest
- Habitat
- Moist coniferous forests, mossy tundra, bogs, and damp riverbanks
- Diet
- Photosynthetic (sunlight, water, carbon dioxide, and soil minerals)
- Range
- Canada, Northern United States, Scandinavia, Siberia, Greenland
- Size
- 10 to 20 cm tall, with wiry stems only 1 mm in diameter
- Lifespan
- Individual stems live 1-3 years, but clonal underground rhizome networks can survive for decades.
- Active
- diurnal
- Threats
- Wetland drainage, logging of old-growth boreal forests, and climate change affecting arctic-alpine zones.
- Safe to approach?
- Harmless. You can safely observe and touch this plant. It is non-toxic to touch, but should not be consumed as it contains high levels of abrasive silica and thiaminase, which can interfere with B-vitamins.
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).
Photo: Timothy McNitt, CC-BY, via iNaturalist
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