horsetail two

Stems & Roots: The rhizomes are dark brown or blackish, spread out for long distances and are often 1 m (3 1/3 ft) below the ground surface. They send up numerous aboveground shoots but of two different types at different times of the year. In early spring, the shoots are ashy-gray to light brown, unbranched, hollow, jointed stems; each node (joint) surrounded by a toothed sheath; and the tip of stem ending in a brownish, spore-producing cone. After the cones have shed their spores (early May) these whitish to light brown stems wither and die down. At the same time, the second type of shoot emerges from the ground. These are green, slender, erect, hollow stems, leafless but with whorls of 6 to 8 branches at nearly every node; each branch may branch again with whorls of smaller branches; stems and branches surrounded by a small, toothed sheath at each node but never end in a spore-producing cone. Both kinds of stems are easily pulled apart at the nodes and can be fitted back together like sections of a stove pipe.