Single Record
Participant Info
- Species
- Equisetum praealtum [Equisetum hyemale subs. affine] [Hippochaete praealta] [Equisetum hyemale] etc.]
- Family
- Equisetaceae
- CommonName
- scouring-brush horsetail, scouringbrush horsetail
- Presence
- yes
- Status
- native
- EarliestDate
- 1938
- LatestDate
- 2008
- Ecosystem
- basin, foothill, montane, ruderal
- Geobotanical
- SSanjuans, NCristos, UBasin
- Counties
- Alamosa, Conejos, Costilla, Mineral, Rio Grande, Saguache
- Passes
- WildlifePreserves
- Other Localities
- PhotoRecords
- YES Rich Haswell: Rio Grande Co, across Beaver Creek cpgd in forested seep, 12 July 2017
- Comments
- Scouring rush horsetail has less than a dozen vouchers from the Watershed, most of the under the name "Equisitum hyemale subsp. affine." The voucher locations are restricted to the South San Juans and the North Cristos. However, recent iNaturalist photorecords (2018-2024) have added a number of other locations: foothills above Crestone (Saguache co), by highway south of the Great Sand Dunes NPP (Alamosa Co), near Fort Garland (Costilla Co), and just east of Monte Vista (Rio Grande Co). Equisetum praealtum grows in a variety of habitats from basin to montane: by streams and ponds, in mesic meadows and woodlands, sometimes in ditches and beside trails. The USA distribution covers every state of the nation. The species follows the Rio Grande drainage through New Mexico and, spottily, through Texas to the Gulf of Mexico. Note that currently the nomenclature for this taxon stands pretty much a muddle. POWO treats the USA plants as "Equisetum praealtum" and confines E. hyemale to Eurasia. FNA, which goes with the traditional "Equisetum hyemale subsp. affine," adds: "In southern and central to western regions [of the USA] plants tend to be taller and have more persistent teeth (Equisetum robustum, E . prealtum); in the Far West they often have bituberculate ridges (E. hyemale var. californicum). Equisetum hyemale subsp. hyemale is found in Europe and Asia to northwestern China in Xinjiang." Currently (April 2025), FNA, BONAP, and iNaturalist treat the taxon as Equisetum hyemale subsp. affine.
- Annotation