The plant around us. Volume 1 The plant around us. Volume I | Page 58

Equisetum
English: Horsetail
Spanish: Cola de caballo
Estonian: Osi
This plant measures between 1 and 3 meters in
height with a thickness of about 3 cm. The growth
of the plant is manifested with that of its stems.
It has curative properties. It is necessary to be
careful not to take other varieties because they
can be toxic, as happens with Equisetum with a
higher palustrina content.
Leaves
Stem
The sterile stems are 10–90 cm tall and 3–5 mm diameter,
with jointed segments around 2–5 cm long with whorls of
side shoots at the segment joints; the side shoots have a
diameter of about 1 mm. Some stems can have as many as 20
segments. The fertile stems are white, 10–25 cm tall and 3–
5 mm diameter, with 4–8 whorls of brown scale leaves and an
apical brown spore cone 10–40 mm long and 4–9 mm broad.
It’s deciduous. The dark-green,
simple leaves are whorled. They
are acicular with entire margins.
They turn an attractive yellow in
autumn.