Equisetum telmateiaEhrh.

great horsetail

WFO wfo-0001108925 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h

Equisetum telmateia, photographed by Loopy30
fig. a Loopy30, CC BY-SA 4.0 / 2022-06-07 / obs. 204289235
Equisetum telmateia, photographed by joergmlpts
fig. b joergmlpts, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 200384850
Equisetum telmateia, photographed by Erin Springinotic
fig. c Erin Springinotic, CC0 1.0 / obs. 205923873
Equisetum telmateia, photographed by Jens-Christian Svenning
fig. d Jens-Christian Svenning, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 202750424
Equisetum telmateia, photographed by Gunnar Bonk
fig. e Gunnar Bonk, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 200406723
Equisetum telmateia, photographed by Wendy St. John
fig. f Wendy St. John, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 203733642
Equisetum telmateia, photographed by Alexander Wentworth
fig. g Alexander Wentworth, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 200674775
Equisetum telmateia, photographed by Margherita Ferraiuolo
fig. h Margherita Ferraiuolo, CC0 1.0 / obs. 199935149

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 41 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 maximum Börner
  • Allostelites maximum var. serotinum (A.Braun) Börner
  • Equisetum caenosum Clairv.
  • Equisetum eburneum Schreb. ex Roth
  • Equisetum eburneum var. serotinum Silliman
  • Equisetum macrostachion Poir.
  • Equisetum majus Garsault ex Schinz & Thell.
  • Equisetum majus Garsault
  • Equisetum majus var. serotinum (A.Braun) Vollm.
  • Equisetum maximum f. pluviale C.W.Christ.
  • Equisetum maximum f. serotinum (A.Braun) C.W.Christ.
  • Equisetum maximum f. serotinum (A.Braun) f. Wirtg.
  • Equisetum maximum var. serotinum (A.Br. ex Silliman) Rouy
  • Equisetum palustre f. fallax (Milde) M.Broun
  • Equisetum palustre var. fallax Milde
  • Equisetum telmateia f. breve (Milde) Luerss.
  • Equisetum telmateia f. caespitosum (Milde) Luerss.
  • Equisetum telmateia f. comosum Milde
  • Equisetum telmateia f. dactyloideum Bruhin
  • Equisetum telmateia f. gracile (Milde) Luerss.
  • Equisetum telmateia f. humile (Milde) Luerss.
  • Equisetum telmateia f. macrostachyum Milde
  • Equisetum telmateia f. microstachyum Milde
  • Equisetum telmateia f. polystachyum Milde

and 17 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.