Horsetail (Equisetum) “Scouring Rushes” Horsetail comes from a prehistoric plant family dating back 230 million years. It dominated the planet as prehistoric trees and for the past 30 million years is believed to have contributed greatly to the formation of Earth’s present-day coal deposits. Today, nine modern Horsetail species are almost indistinguishable except for slight differences apparent at stem joints. Horsetail tends to grow in moist areas, wet grasslands, stream banks, wetlands, marshes, ditches, damp sandy or disturbed sites and shady forests throughout BC. Horsetail has a horizontal and deep root system with rhizomes that can spread and produce many stems that appear in the Spring. Horsetail sends up both fertile shoots, that distribute spores, and vegetative shoots. The fertile shoots are first to appear. They have light-brown stems with no branches but have a spore-bearing cone at its tip. They grow to about 12 inches tall and in a general way, resemble asparagus. These fertile shoots release tiny spores from their cone into the surrounding area and then promptly wither away. The released spores are tiny (0.05 mm) and generally fall to the ground. They have evolved amazing adaptations that increase their mobility to disperse in ways that we are just beginning to understand. When the spores take root they continue the cycle, spreading as creeping rhizomes and tubers. Shortly after shedding their spores, the fertile shoots die back and vegetative shoots begin to emerge. These are more numerous and grow to 2 feet tall and produce “whorls” of fine green branches (modified leaves) that form at stem joints to create bushy plants which resemble miniature pine trees. This pine tree appearance helps us to differentiate them from ferns. They are delicate and soft. When full grown in mid-June, especially where they have well established root systems, they often grow in a colony or great carpet which can impart a rather enchanting elfin-glade aura in a forest setting. Food for Wildlife? The new, fresh Horsetail shoots are an important early spring food source. Bears, Moose, Elk, caribou, geese and other wild animals are believed to eat Horsetail. Bears, it has been noted, only eat Horsetail in the spring when the plants are young. Horsetail can be toxic or fatal for domestic horses, cattle and sheep, usually when consumed in hay that contains Horsetail. Food for Humans? Bears only eat Horsetails in the spring when they are young and fresh shoots. Part of the reason that bears do not touch Horsetails after early June is the plant has an unusual attribute in that it extracts silica out of the soil and over time becomes increasingly saturated with silica. When Horsetail dies in the fall, it turns white because the absorbed silica is almost all that is left. At this point the plant feels sharp and coarse and can actually cut holes in the digestive tract of anything that eats it. This is how some plants in the family got the name “Scouring-Rush”; in mid- to late-summer, they were used as scouring pads to clean pots by western pioneers, and even used as sandpaper. Indigenous people used them to polish arrows, bows and pipes. Horsetail has many uses as a fungicide, and for various garden applications, and also has numerous herbal and medical uses. An incredible array of bioactive chemicals are present in Horsetail, and the plants are used medicinally by humans in every region that it grows. The use of Horsetail by humans is a topic that goes far beyond our mandate to gather and share information on wildlife and plant life and the dangers thereof. Horsetail is a complex plant requiring careful and diligent study by anyone planning to consume it.