Equisetum × moorei Newman

Family: EQUISETACEAE

Genus: Equisetum

Catalan common name: Cua de cavall de Moore.

Spanish common name: Cola de caballo de Moore, Equiseto junco.

Province distribution: Barcelona. Castelló. Girona. València.

General distribution (Phytogeography): Holarctic

Plants protected by law: País Valencià Catalogue.

IUCN Category: NENot evaluated

Flowering time: JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

Life-forms: Geophyte.

Habitats: River forests. Non-saline wetlands (intermittent watercourses, streams, artesian wells, ditches). Mesophyll mountainous grasslands. Stream margins and very moist grasslands in cool mountain environments.

Characteristics: Perennial herb with creeping rhizome. Stems simple, erect, glaucous-green, thick (3-6 mm in diameter) and elongated (40-80 cm), bearing about 15 longitudinal ridges. Leaf sheaths of similar length and width, with a thin black band at the apex and numerous deciduous teeth at maturity. The structures crowning the stems (strobili), which bear the spores, are small (<1 cm) and pointed.

Observations: This taxon, sometimes considered an independent species, is distinguished from its parental species by the intermediate shape of its leaf sheaths. Compared to the cylindrical shape with a wide dark band of E. hyemale, and the bell-shaped sheath lacking a dark band in E. ramosissimum, E. × moorei exhibits a slightly elongated, cylindrical sheath with a narrow black band at the apex.