Equisetum diffusum D. Don

Country of Origin: Himalaya mountains from Simla (India) to Tibet
Habitat: Open but shady, wet places; stream sides, mossy falls, wet meadows

Description: This species, endemic in the Himalayas, is unlike all but E. bogotense in that the stems are seen above ground all year round.
Plants small to medium-sized. Rhizome creeping, erect, or ascending, blackish brown, nodes and roots with dense long yellowish brown trichomes or glabrous. Aerial stems annual, monomorphic, 10-30(-70) cm tall, 1-2 mm in diam. at middle, much branched; internodes 1.5-6 cm, green but those of lower 1-3 nodes blackish brown, not lustrous. Main stem 4-10-ridged; each side of ridge raised and forming edges reaching lower sheath teeth; each edge with a row of tubercles reaching sheath teeth; sheath tubes long, narrow, grayish green in lower portion, blackish brown in upper portion, with a deep groove going through back of sheath; sheath teeth 5-10, blackish brown, lanceolate, leathery, caudate at apex, persistent. Lateral branches slender, rigid, terete, 4-8-ridged; each side of ridge with edges and tubercles; sheath teeth 4-6, grayish green, deltoid, leathery, persistent. Strobilus terete, 1-9 cm, 4-8 mm in diam., apex blunt; stalk prolonged when mature and 1-3 cm.³

Culture: May survive light freezes but best cultured in cool greenhouse. Does not die back, so also grows well in more tropical conditions.

Accession # 200202441
Source: Chad Husby - FIU
Accession Date: 10-04-2002
Bench: 3108 - EVO: Basal Angiosperms
- Currently: active - healthy
- Qty: 1 confirmed on 06-29-2024

This accession has been observed in bloom on:

EEB Greenhouse Holdings native to: China South-Central / China North-Central / China Southeast / Japan / East Himalaya / India / Nepal / Pakistan / West Himalaya / Myanmar / Vietnam

data regenerated on Tue, 19 Nov 2024 14:21:01 -0500 [bcm v4.0]

Plant Biodiversity Conservatory and Research Core