Common horsetail
Equisetum arvense
family
Equisetaceae
origin
Exotic
declaration
NIL
For information only
Common names
Bottle brush, Bull pipes, Corn horsetail, Foxtail rush, Horse pipes, Horsetail fern, Joint grass, Mare's tail, Meadow pine, Paddock pipes.
Schedule 1 Prohibited Matter Biosecurity Queensland must be notified within 24 hours Ph. 13 25 23 , A mostly upright and long-lived plant re-growing each year from creeping underground stems. It produces two distinctly different types of stems, without obvious leaves, and does not have any true flowers. Its green "vegetative" stems are tall, thin, and produce several spreading branches at each of their joints. Its whitish or pale brown "fertile" stems are shorter, thicker, and topped with a cone-like reproductive structure. This reproductive structure (1-4 cm long) is greenish to brownish in colour and consists of numerous scale-like structures.
Impact
Impact
Common horsetail (Equisetum arvense) is regarded as an environmental weed in New South Wales and as a potential environmental weed in the ACT, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania. Though this species in not yet widely established in Australia, it has the potential to become a persistent weed of riparian areas, wetlands and other low-lying areas in the temperate regions of Australia that have an annual rainfall above 500 mm. When it becomes established in gardens and bushland areas it spreads quickly by creeping underground stems (i.e. rhizomes) and is difficult to eradicate.The only known occurrences of this species escaping cultivation and spreading into bushland in Australia have been in the Sydney and Moonan districts in New South Wales. Populations of common horsetail (Equisetum arvense) were reported to be infesting hundreds of square metres along creeklines at these sites.
Location
Location
Characteristics
Characteristics
Similar Species
Similar Species
Common horsetail (Equisetum arvense) is regarded as an environmental weed in New South Wales and as a potential environmental weed in the ACT, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania. Though this species in not yet widely established in Australia, it has the potential to become a persistent weed of riparian areas, wetlands and other low-lying areas in the temperate regions of Australia that have an annual rainfall above 500 mm. When it becomes established in gardens and bushland areas it spreads quickly by creeping underground stems (i.e. rhizomes) and is difficult to eradicate.The only known occurrences of this species escaping cultivation and spreading into bushland in Australia have been in the Sydney and Moonan districts in New South Wales. Populations of common horsetail (Equisetum arvense) were reported to be infesting hundreds of square metres along creeklines at these sites.
