Equisetum sylvaticumL.

wood horsetail

WFO wfo-0001108924 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h

Equisetum sylvaticum, photographed by Marina Potapova
fig. a Marina Potapova, CC0 1.0 / 2022-06-11 / obs. 205375009
Equisetum sylvaticum, photographed by Aleksei Baushev
fig. b Aleksei Baushev, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 205245383
Equisetum sylvaticum, photographed by Екатерина Войнова
fig. c Екатерина Войнова, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 203427866
Equisetum sylvaticum, photographed by aga_l_
fig. d aga_l_, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 205374624
Equisetum sylvaticum, photographed by Vadim Zizov
fig. e Vadim Zizov, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 203401256
Equisetum sylvaticum, photographed by Виктория Билоус
fig. f Виктория Билоус, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 205701165
Equisetum sylvaticum, photographed by Mary E. Macaulay, P.Eng.
fig. g Mary E. Macaulay, P.Eng., CC BY 4.0 / obs. 202572728
Equisetum sylvaticum, photographed by Pavel Kacl
fig. h Pavel Kacl, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 205682802

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Confused withby our own model

These are not lookalikes we guessed at. Each one is a species our identification model genuinely mistook for this plant, and how many times. The error rate is published.

Also published as 29 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Allostelites sylvaticum (L.) Börner
  • Equisetum abietinum Flörke ex Milde
  • Equisetum capillare Hoffm.
  • Equisetum curvifolium Flörke ex Milde
  • Equisetum opbraculense Hoorebeke
  • Equisetum silvaticum var. squarrosum A.A.Eaton
  • Equisetum sylvaticum f. capillare (Milde) Luerss.
  • Equisetum sylvaticum f. gracile Luerss.
  • Equisetum sylvaticum f. multiramosum Fernald
  • Equisetum sylvaticum f. neoserotinum Vict.
  • Equisetum sylvaticum f. opsistachyum Lepage
  • Equisetum sylvaticum f. polystachyum (Milde) Luerss.
  • Equisetum sylvaticum f. praecox (Milde) Luerss.
  • Equisetum sylvaticum f. pyramidale (Milde) Luerss.
  • Equisetum sylvaticum f. serotinum (Milde) Luerss.
  • Equisetum sylvaticum f. serum Lepage
  • Equisetum sylvaticum f. sylvaticum
  • Equisetum sylvaticum f. tardatum Lepage
  • Equisetum sylvaticum var. capillare (Hoffm.) Rupr.
  • Equisetum sylvaticum var. multiramosum (Fernald) Wherry
  • Equisetum sylvaticum var. polystachyum Milde
  • Equisetum sylvaticum var. praecox Milde
  • Equisetum sylvaticum var. procumbens Gray
  • Equisetum sylvaticum var. pyramidale Milde

and 5 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice, no toxicity claim and no native range, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.