Gary Fewless

Key to Equisetum

5. Fertile stems brownish with no branches and often less than 25 cm tall; sterile stems green, taller than 30 cm when mature, sheaths approximately as wide as tall with mostly blackish teeth; teeth of branch sheaths narrowly triangular; branches strongly ascending (best seen in younger plants); common plants of disturbed wet to dry sites.
Equisetum arvense
5. Fertile stems green, similar to sterile, (with addition of terminal strobilus) and taller than 30 cm when mature, stem sheaths clearly longer than wide, teeth with blackish center and conspicuous hyaline margins; teeth of branch sheaths broadly triangular; branches widely spreading; plants most often in upland forest. Equisetum pratense

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