Equisetum scirpoides
Encyclopedia
Equisetum scirpoides (Dwarf scouring rush, Dwarf Horsetail) Michx., Fl. Bor.-Amer. 2: 281 (1803). 2 n = 216. The smallest of the currently occurring representatives of the genus Equisetum (Horsetail). It occurs mainly in the area of the Arctic Circle in Alaska for the Indians and Greenlandii, Idaho, Montana, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, New York and New England. Creates a compact and dense clumps. Reaches a maximum height of about 30 cm. The assimilation and generative shoots are identical and grow together. The leaves reduced to a black sheath around the stem. The stems are green, unbranched, thick and about 1 mm with six ribs. The generative shoots with small cones dying after sowing the spores. The nodes occur at approximately 1 - 3 cm. The leaves are very small to about 1 mm, and arranged in around nodes. The corms are thin, yellow and brown. The roots very fine, black and densely surpassing the ground. Species grows best in the mud at the depth zone from 0 to 3 cm. Specimens reproduce primarily by vegetative division. Equisetum scirpoides is hardy and semi-evergreen. This species is quite a popular decorative plant seen in garden ponds, ornamental gardens and assumptions in nearly the whole world. E. scirpoides was discovered and described an eminent French botanist André Michaux
. Detailed studies were conducted by the American botanist Oliver Atkins Farwell. / The International Plant Names Index ( IPNI ) /
André Michaux
André Michaux was a French botanist and explorer.-Biography:Michaux was born in Satory, now part of Versailles, Yvelines. After the death of his wife within a year of their marriage he took up the study of botany and was a student of Bernard de Jussieu...
. Detailed studies were conducted by the American botanist Oliver Atkins Farwell. / The International Plant Names Index ( IPNI ) /
Name
Equisetum, from the Latin, equus, "horse", and seta, "bristle, animal hair". Scirpoides, from the Latin, scirpus, "rush, bulrush". Scouring Rush, a reference to its early use for cleaning pots, made possible by its high silica content. Other common names include Dwarf Horsetail, Sedge Horsetail, Prele Faux-scirpe (Qué), Tradfräken (Swe), Dvergsnelle (Nor), Trad-Padderok (Dan), Hentokorte (Fin), Dwergholpijp (NL), Himedokusa (Jpn), Skrzyp arktyczny (PL).Distribution
Austria, Finland, Norway, Spitsbergen, Sweden, Greenland, St. Pierre & MiqueIon, Canada (Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, N.W.Territories, Nunavut, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Isl., Quebec, Saskatchewan, Yukon), Alaska, USA (Idaho, Illinois, lowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New York, South Dakota, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin), W-Siberia, C-Siberia, E-Siberia, Amur, Ussuri, Japan, Lithuania, Novaja Zemlja, Kamchatka, N-European Russia, Lithuania, Estonia, C-European Russia, E-European Russia.Subspecies
Within Equisetum scirpoides there are two subspecies :- Equisetum scirpoides ssp. scirpoides (Michaux, Farwell) = Hippochaete scirpoides (Michaux, Farwell) - Main subspecies, grows up to about 30 cm. Low, slender, wiry, unbranched stems. Stems erect or prostrate, hollow, segmented, rough surfaced, green. Internodes about 4 apart with segments marked by ashy grey bands. Sterile and fertile stems alike. Twisting and wiry in form, branching rare. Sheaths tiny, 1 - 2.5 mm × 0.75 - 1.5 mm, with three teeth, dark with white margins. Cones usually 1 long with sharp pointed tips, borne on short stalks at the tips of fertile stems. Spores green, spheric. Rootstalk shiny black, creeping, freely branching, and wide spreading. Roots black to very dark brown.
- Equisetum scirpoides ssp. walkowiaki (Walkowiak) = Equisetum scirpoides (ssp.) minus (Lawson, Milde) - Smaller subspecies, grows up to about 15 cm. The botanical characteristics identical with the main subspecies. Often seen primarily as an ornamental plant in Japan. Subspecies described by Scottish botanist George LawsonGeorge LawsonGeorge Lawson may refer to:* George Lawson , Canadian botanist* George Lawson , Scottish Member of Parliament, 1954–1974* George Lawson , Australian politician...
and eminent German botanist Carl August Julius MildeCarl August Julius MildeCarl August Julius Milde was a German bryologist and pteridologist who was a native of Breslau.In 1850 he obtained his medical doctorate from the University of Breslau, where he was a student of Heinrich Göppert...
, but without a proper taxonomic name, which gave the Polish botanist Radosław Janusz Walkowiak (subsp. walkowiaki).