Meadow horsetails, like other members of the genus, prefer moist habitats such as woods,
thickets, river edges, and meadows, in sunlight or partial shade.
Plants: Meadow horsetails have thin light green fragile-looking branches,
in symmetric whorls off the main stem, and don't exceed about 2′ (60 cm) in height. Branches tend to be straight,
or to droop somewhat, while in other species the branches are ascending.
Stems are 1/32-⅛″ (1-4 mm) in diameter, with 8-18 ridges.
A cross-section of a sterile stem reveals that up to half the diameter of the stem is hollow, more so than with
marsh horsetail. Fertile stems are 8-10″ (20-25 cm) tall, and pale pink or brownish at first, tipped by a cone-like sporangia. After fruiting, though, the fertile stems become green and develop branches, looking
like the sterile stems. Sterile stems are 8-24″ (20-60 cm) tall, and very rough.
Leaves: Tiny, non-photosynthetic leaves called scales
are fused to the stem at branch nodes, or sheaths. Sheaths are 1/16-⅛″ (2-6 mm) long,
with 8-10 brown, white-edged teeth.
Fruits: Fertile stems are tipped by a single blunt-tipped cone-like
strobilus, ½-1½″ (1.5-4 cm) long, atop a stalk. Spores are released in April.
Edibility: These aren't eaten by people, but caribou, moose,
grizzly bears, geese, and sheep consume it. (Horses may consume this, but some species of
Equisetum are toxic to horses.)
From Thomé, Prof. Dr. Otto Wilhelm, Flora von Deutschland Österreich und der Schweiz., 1885