More to the point, imagine taking a walk through Forest Park and being surrounded by giant ferns and 100 ft. tall horsetail trees! Well you may have done this 350 million years ago.... if you were a dinosaur of course. Those horsetail trees were the ancestors of today's much shorter, but unique, horsetail plants we see almost everywhere in western Oregon. And because of that, I wanted to post about them, even though this primitive plant has no actual flowers, proving that this is a very inclusive blog.Typically seen growing near damp, somewhat sunny areas, they are Common Horsetail - Equisetum arvense. World wide, there are about 20 species of horsetail plants, some growing up to 6 feet tall. These vascular plants do not seem to have any natural predators and they are highly resistant to bacteria and other plant woes, which explains their durability over the centuries.
Because horsetail has no flowers or seeds, they rely on spores and rhizomes for spreading. And as you have probably observed while out walking, this works very well. Horsetail colonies are common throughout our area and are considered invasive in some places.
To me, the horsetail plant does not really resemble a horse's tail; that is, unless the horse has just been electrocuted. It is also called snake grass and scouring rush in other areas for that matter. But the curious plant actually has two forms. An early spring, spore-bearing form that looks like an asparagus stalk comes up first and then dies off. Later, the green stalky form with brush-like green bristles emerges. The bristles are actually mutated leaves of a sort, but still very primitive.
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| Strobilius form, with spores on 3/24/2015 at Orchard Park |
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| Sterile, photo-synthetic form on 8/26/2015 |
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| Twine-like leaves on silica stalk. |
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| Horsetail colony near the Metolius River. |
In the herbal medicine world, there are many references to the benefits of horsetail. It is considered an astringent, a diuretic, and can theoretically help with bone health due to the silica content. As with many such claims, there is little actual scientific evidence to support these benefits so don't go on a harvesting trip just yet.
Other "living fossil" plants you may see in Oregon are the Ginkgo tree, the Monkey Puzzle tree, the Dawn Redwood tree, and the Cycad plant, which would be an indoor resident around here. Note that some experts take issue with the "living fossil" term. See link below for a short discussion.
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| Dawn Redwood at Rood Bridge Park |
Living Fossil Insights
Dawn Redwood Information
Top image courtesy of the Royal Ontario Museum
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