Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Strobili

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 love the way the small, cone-like strobili terminal of the Water Scouring-rush lights up in the sunlight. Seems to glow and really shows off the hexagonal pattern beautifully. This semi-aquatic plant grows in marshes, bogs and roadside ditches. Seen at Bebo Grove, Fish Creek Park four days ago.

You would think that I know a lot more than I do, after being told the names of so many plants over and over again. I think I am right in saying that this is the strobili (or is it strobilus?) of the Common Horsetail. I find them quite attractive. This particular one was photographed at Brown-Lowery Provincial Park, but we get them in the city as well.