Equisetum telmateia Ehrh., 1783

Common names

• 🇬🇧 Great Horsetail
• 🇫🇷 Grande prêle, Prêle d’ivoire

Taxonomy

• Kingdom: Plantae
• Clade: Tracheophytes
• Clade: Monilophytes
• Class: Polypodiopsida
• Subclass: Equisetidae
• Order: Equisetales
• Family: Equisetaceae
• Genus: Equisetum
• Subgenus: Equisetum
• Species: Equisetum telmateia

Presence

Present.

Conservation status

• Red List (Metropolitan France): LC Least Concern
• Red List (Europe): LC Least Concern

Notes

Possible confusion with E. arvense L., 1753, whose stems have sheats with less than 15 teeth, while those of E. telmateia have sheats with more than 15 teeth.

Diploid (2n = 216).

Hybridizes with:

• E. arvense L., 1753 to produce E. × robertsii Dines, 2002;
• E. palustre L., 1753 to produce E. × font-queri Rothm., 1944, P;
• E. sylvaticum L., 1753 to produce E. × bowmanii C.N.Page, 1989.

Photographs

Sources

• Badré, F., & Deschatres, R. (1979). Les Ptéridophytes de la France : liste commentée des espèces (taxinomie, cytologie, écologie et répartition générale). Candollea, 34(2), 379-457. https://doi.org/10.5169/seals-880127

• Christenhusz, M., Bento Elias, R., Dyer, R., Ivanenko, Y., Rouhan, G., Rumsey, F., & Väre, H. (2017). Equisetum telmateia (Europe assessment). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, 2017. https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/203004/85452008

• Dines, T.D, & Bonner, I.R. (2002). A new hybrid horsetail, Equisetum arvense x E. telmateia (E. x robertsii) in Britain. Watsonia, 24, 145-157.

• Prelli, R., & Boudrie, M. (2024). Les fougères et plantes alliées d’Europe (2nd ed., p. 113). Biotope.

• Tison, J.M., & de Foucault, B. (2014). Flora Gallica : Flore de France (p. 15). Biotope.