Weed · maize

Common horsetail

Equisetum arvense LinnaeusEPPO code EQUAR

Ukrainian: хвощ польовий · European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization
English: common horsetail · European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization

How to recognise it

Plant: The sterile vegetative stems are stiff and green, with branchlets arranged in whorls that serve to assimilate organic substances.
Flowering: It has two kinds of stems: generative (spore-bearing) and vegetative. The generative stems are succulent, yellowish light brown, up to 25 cm tall, and end in a spore-bearing organ, the strobilus.

Life form: It is a deep-rhizome weed: the rhizomes reach a depth of 40–50 cm or more.
A rhizomatous weed and a spore-bearing plant. It belongs to the division Equisetophyta, class Equisetopsida, family Equisetaceae (horsetails).
After the sexual stage of development, rhizomes form from the gametophyte, followed by vegetative and spore-bearing stems. Spore formation happens very rarely; vegetative reproduction dominates.
It has horizontal rhizomes, which bear vegetative stems, and vertical ones, which bear generative stems. Adventitious roots and small tubers form at the rhizome nodes and serve as storage for reserve substances.
Emergence: In early spring the spore-bearing stems appear first, and somewhat later the sterile vegetative stems appear.
Favourable conditions: It is more common in the forest zone. Most rhizomatous weeds prefer sites with a better moisture supply.
Where it is found: In Polissia it is one of the noxious perennial weeds in maize crops.

Every fact rests on a quote from its source, and each quote was checked against the page it is printed on.

EPPO Global Database · European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization
Прогноз фітосанітарного стану агроценозів України та рекомендації щодо захисту рослин у 2025 році · Держпродспоживслужба, НААН, НАН · p. 243
Зуза В. С., «Гербологія», монографія, 468 с. · Харківський державний біотехнологічний університет; Харків: Стиль-Издат, 2022 · p. 46, 47
Photos: naturalist charlie, iNaturalist, CC BY 4.0

How to recognise it

Plant: The sterile vegetative stems are stiff and green, with branchlets arranged in whorls that serve to assimilate organic substances.
Flowering: It has two kinds of stems: generative (spore-bearing) and vegetative. The generative stems are succulent, yellowish light brown, up to 25 cm tall, and end in a spore-bearing organ, the strobilus.

Biology and where it is

Life form: It is a deep-rhizome weed: the rhizomes reach a depth of 40–50 cm or more.
A rhizomatous weed and a spore-bearing plant. It belongs to the division Equisetophyta, class Equisetopsida, family Equisetaceae (horsetails).
After the sexual stage of development, rhizomes form from the gametophyte, followed by vegetative and spore-bearing stems. Spore formation happens very rarely; vegetative reproduction dominates.
It has horizontal rhizomes, which bear vegetative stems, and vertical ones, which bear generative stems. Adventitious roots and small tubers form at the rhizome nodes and serve as storage for reserve substances.
Emergence: In early spring the spore-bearing stems appear first, and somewhat later the sterile vegetative stems appear.
Favourable conditions: It is more common in the forest zone. Most rhizomatous weeds prefer sites with a better moisture supply.
Where it is found: In Polissia it is one of the noxious perennial weeds in maize crops.

Sources and how we checked

Every fact rests on a quote from its source, and each quote was checked against the page it is printed on.

EPPO Global Database · European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization
Прогноз фітосанітарного стану агроценозів України та рекомендації щодо захисту рослин у 2025 році · Держпродспоживслужба, НААН, НАН · p. 243
Зуза В. С., «Гербологія», монографія, 468 с. · Харківський державний біотехнологічний університет; Харків: Стиль-Издат, 2022 · p. 46, 47
Photos: naturalist charlie, iNaturalist, CC BY 4.0