Horsetail

Description:

The name "horsetail", often used for the entire group, arose because the branched species somewhat resemble a horse's tail.

Notes:

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;[3] the genus Calamites of family Calamitaceae for example is abundant in coal deposits from the Carboniferous period.