Wood Horsetail - Equisetum sylvaticum

It differs from all other species of horsetail because the branches are themselves branched. The teeth of its sheaths are united into a few lobes, less than the number of grooves on the stem.

Beware: E. arvense can also show some branching of the branches.

Generally grows on deep, mildly acidic, often peaty soils that are kept permanently damp by flushing.

The spores are produced in cones during April and May.

A perennial, colony-forming herb.

Its distribution has a strong northern and western bias in Britain and has declined in other areas.

Rare in Leicestershire and Rutland only having been recorded recently recorded in two locations, one being in Owston Wood. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 6 of the 617 tetrads.

It is on the local VC55 Rare Plant Register