Equisetum Arvense

Equisetum arvense, commonly called field horsetail or common horsetail, is a nonflowering vascular plant in the horsetail family Equisetaceae, related to ferns, found across the arctic and temperate Northern Hemisphere from 83 degrees north in North America south to Texas, India, and Iran, in damp woodlands, pastures, and disturbed ground. It grows two distinct kinds of stems from the same rhizome: unbranched fertile stems that appear in April bearing spore cones before withering, and green sterile stems that persist through summer, growing 10 to 90 centimeters tall with jointed segments and whorled side branches. It absorbs silicon unusually well for a herbaceous plant and has an unusually high chromosome count of 216, or 108 pairs.