Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Horsetail

The strobilus contains spores on the fertile stems of a Horsetail. Horsetails always fascinate me and I love to take photos of them. This one is still closed, but they are photogenic at each stage. I will add a previously posted photo in a comment box below, showing an open one. The first of the two photos below shows the Strobilus of a Horsetail, a cone-like structure where the spores are released from. Other stems look like the second photo, which shows a typical sterile stem. "Equisetum (/ˌɛkwɨˈsiːtəm/; horsetail, snake grass, puzzlegrass) is the only living genus in Equisetaceae, a family of vascular plants that reproduce by spores rather than seeds. Equisetum is a "living fossil" as it is the only living genus of the entire class Equisetopsida, which for over one hundred million years was much more diverse and dominated the understory of late Paleozoic forests. Some Equisetopsida were large trees reaching to 30 meters tall. The genus Calamites of the family Calamitaceae, for example, is abundant in coal deposits from the Carboniferous period." From Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equisetum There were two walks I wanted to go on yesterday, 20 June 2018 - an afternoon botany walk at Griffith Woods, especially as I have missed most of the walks this session; and a birding walk in the evening in Fish Creek Park. Usually, I don't do two walks on the same day. Photographed the Great Blue Heron at the river's edge and the bright yellow Gaillardia flower at the Fish Creek Park location. This Horsetail photo was taken at Griffith Woods. After the evening walk, a few of us went to Tim Horton's for coffee and chat. Coffee doesn't usually keep me awake, but I guess I'm not normally drinking it at 10:00 pm! Despite feeling tired out from two walks, I was also 'wired' and it was 6:00 am before i finally fell into bed. An hour later, I was awake, so today is definitely a slow day at home, as it feels like my brain is barely functioning..

Horsetails always fascinate me and I love to take macro photos of them. This time I photographed a group of them, as I thought it was quite a nice cluster. This is Equisetum arvense, commonly known as Field Horsetail or Common Horsetail - the spores are contained in the beautiful cone-like strobilus. Seen on the May Species Count on 25 May 2014, when seven of us spent the day covering a large area SW of Calgary and W of Priddis. It was a most enjoyable day, as well as very successful - a total of 69 bird species. "Equisetum (/ˌɛkwɨˈsiːtəm/; horsetail, snake grass, puzzlegrass) is the only living genus in Equisetaceae, a family of vascular plants that reproduce by spores rather than seeds. Equisetum is a "living fossil" as it is the only living genus of the entire class Equisetopsida, which for over one hundred million years was much more diverse and dominated the understory of late Paleozoic forests. Some Equisetopsida were large trees reaching to 30 meters tall. The genus Calamites of the family Calamitaceae, for example, is abundant in coal deposits from the Carboniferous period." From Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equisetum

I believe I am correct in saying that this is Equisetum arvense, commonly known as Field Horsetail or Common Horsetail - the spores are contained in this beautiful cone-like strobilus. This macro image was taken on 21 May 2013, NW of Calgary, along the edge of a gravel backroad. I always think that the tiny "plates" look rather like flowers with their "petals".

The first photo shows the Strobilus of a Horsetail, a cone-like structure where the spores are released from. Some stems have a strobilus at the tip, as in photo 1, and other stems look like the second photo, which shows a typical sterile stem. I love photographing strobili! Photographed these yesterday just within the city limits, going west along 22X. They were growing near the edge of a slough. I used Picnik (sp?) to join the two images.

Just "playing" with my macro lens outdoors here - a lens that had previously only ever been used indoors for flowers and waterdrops : ) Because I have to be within about 6" of the subject, I find this lens is an absolute neck-killer! I LOVE the strobilus (cone-like structure at the tips of some of the stems) of any kind of Horsetail - not sure which species this one is. The much-reduced leaves of horsetails "grow in whorls fused into nodal sheaths. ... The stems are green and photosynthetic, and distinctive in being hollow, jointed and ridged (with sometimes 3 but usually 6-40 ridges) and these are often played with by children who will separate and then seamlessly rejoin the segments." The leaves are seen here across the middle of the image. Taken while we were botanizing Priddis Greens Golf Course, recording all the flora and fauna seen that day. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equisetum

Horsetails and their reflections, seen in someone's back garden pond on our recent May Species Count in the Priddis area, south west of Calgary.

On Sunday, I went with a friend to Brown-Lowrey Park, a little south of Highway 22x, south of the city. Quite dense, forested hills, and it always feels a little creepy in there. No sign of the Three-toed Woodpeckers this time. Saw a couple of Grey Jays (Whiskey-jacks) when we first arrived at the parking lot. Parts of the forest floor were carpeted in what looked rather like a white mesh. This photo shows a single plant from this layer of dead Horsetail. I thought it looked rather pretty, actually.

These are the fertile stems of the Common/Field Horsetail, seen down at Shaw's Meadow, Fish Creek Park.

Horsetail grows in the creek around the pontoon bridge in my favourite park.