Equisetum giganteum facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Equisetum giganteum |
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| Genus: |
Equisetum
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giganteum
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The Equisetum giganteum, also known as the southern giant horsetail, is a very tall plant. It is a type of horsetail that grows naturally in South America and Central America. You can find it from central Chile all the way to Brazil, and north into southern Mexico.
What Does It Look Like?
This plant is one of the biggest horsetails around! It usually grows between 2 and 5 meters (about 6.5 to 16 feet) tall. There is an even taller relative, Equisetum myriochaetum, which can reach up to 8 meters (26 feet) if it has other plants to lean on for support. Some very rare Equisetum giganteum plants have been found to be much taller. One was 11 meters (36 feet) in Venezuela, and another was 12 meters (39 feet) in Brazil's Pantanal region!
The stems of the southern giant horsetail are the thickest of any horsetail. They are usually 1 to 2 centimeters (about 0.4 to 0.8 inches) wide. Some plants can have stems up to 3.5 centimeters (1.33 inches) wide. These strong stems have many thin branches growing in circles, like a whorl. These branches do not split further. Some of them have special cone-shaped parts at their tips. These cones hold the plant's spores, which are like tiny seeds that help the plant reproduce.
Unlike some other horsetails, this plant's stems do all the work. They are green and make food using sunlight. They also produce the spores. This means it does not need separate stems for making food and for carrying spores.
