Equisetum arvense - Mare's tail
Location: Dunham Massey/ Manchester. E. arvense is an invasive deep rooted weed, the rhizomes of this plant can be as deep as 2m underground and are extremely hard to get rid of; they can spread this way into neighbouring gardens. They can grow up to heights of 60cm and appear as bushy fir tree shoots in the Summer.
These images were captured in Spring. In this season Mare's tail shows up as a colony of vertical light green pencils. It was growing in a trench that had poorly drained soils and traces of oil spilled into it, this makes it a hardy species.
They have small triangular black marks that go around the stem. Lateral shoots can be seen emerging paralleling the triangles.
Pointed tips.
