Great Horsetail - Equisetum telmateia

Our largest horsetail. It has ivory white, brittle, smooth sterile stems up to 200 cm. The central stem cavity is one third to half the stem's diameter. Branches are very long (to 20 cm) and numerous with 20 to 40 at each node. Fertile stems are also ivory white and quite thick with cones reaching 4 to 8 cm.

Spring lines where lime rich water emerges, wet woodlands, marshes etc.

Fertile cones ripe in April, sterile stems present May to October.

Perennial.

Fairly frequent in England and Wales but scarcer in Scotland.

Occasional in Leicestershire and Rutland but sometimes quite abundant where it does occur. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 75 of the 617 tetrads.