EQUISETUM

• Equisetum is the only living genus in

Equisetaceae, a family of vascular
plants, which reproduce by spores rather
than seeds.
• Horsetails have a very distinctive form–
INTRO they have jointed stems with small and
DUCTION inconspicuous leaves that appear as
scales at the base of each section of
stem. The stems are hollow and ribbed.
• Equisetum is known as horsetail because
they resembled a tail of a horse.
 • The genus Equisetum, also known as horsetails, is
an ancient lineage, recently found to group
phylogenetically with ferns.
• Horsetails have a fossil record stretching as far
back as the Carboniferous, but their evolutionary
and biogeographic history is not well understood.
• Their low level of morphological change
EVOLUTI throughout their evolution has earned them the

ON label of ‘living fossils.’

• At present, there are 18 species (in 3 subgenera)
in the genus, but this number was much greater at
points in the ancient past.
• Equisetum probably diverged from the outgroup
Marattia around 342 million years ago, during the
early Carboniferous.
• The most recent ancestor of all living
Equisetum existed around 175 million years
ago, during the early Jurassic.
• Biogeographically, the genus may have been
widespread across Pangaea, with the breakup of
the supercontinent leading to the first
divergence of subgenera as Paramochaete
continued in Gondwana and all others continued EVOLUTION
in Laurasia. Later, the Lausasian lineage split
into subgenera Equisetum and Hippochaete
circa 135 million years ago. “Equisetum is
clearly one of the most evolutionarily isolated
and possibly the oldest extant vascular plant
genus,”
 The following are the different views
held as to the relationships of the
Equisetales:
• They are allied to the lycopods.
AFFINITIES • They are allied to the ferns.
• They are allied to neither of the other
existing classes of pteridophytes, but
have had an independent origin
 • From a study of the gametophyte of
Equisetum, it was concluded that it most
nearly resembles the gametophytes of such

AFFINITIES species of Lycopodium as Lycopodliim

cernuumn or Lycopoditin buuindalum.
WITH There are in both cases, the upright fleshy
LYCOPODIU axis, and the same characteristically

M numerous lateral lobes. The archegonia of

Eqcuisetum and Lycopoclium are,
moreover, alike, in that in both genera they
are uniformly without the basal cell.
 • In the embryo of Equisetum, all the organs
of the young sporophyte, including the
primary root, develop from the upper or

AFFINITIES epibasal half of the embryo, in this respect

also, showing a resemblance to the
WITH Lycopodiales.
LYCOPODIU • The points in which the adult sporophytes

M of Equisetum and Lycopodium agree, are

the highly developed axis, and small leaves;
the development of a strobilus, and the so-
called " cladosiphonic" vascular cylinder, or
stele
 • The gametophyte of Equiseturm resembles that
of the eusporangiate ferns rather than
Lycopodium, both in its dorsiventral character,
and method of growth, and especially in the
large multiciliate spermatozoids. These

AFFINITIES resemblances indicate a real, although

WITH
extremely remote, relationship with the lower
ferns.

FERNS • The dichotomously divided leaves of the older

Equisetales and Sphenophyllales are somewhat
reminiscent of those of some ferns, although it
is not at all likely that there is any direct genetic
relationship between these
Plant body is sporophytic and the
sporophyte is a well-branched perennial
herb
Size of the plant body ranges from a few
centimeters as in Equisetum scirpoides to CHARACTERISTIC
several metres as in E. giganteum (up to 13 S
metres). Most of the species are less than a OF EQUISETUM
meter in height.

Plant body consists of a long, horizontal, underground

rhizome, from which arise many roots towards the
lower side and many erect aerial shoots towards upper
side
Rhizome is long, creeping and well-
branched. It is divisible into nodes and
internodes.
Roots, which develop from the node of
rhizome, are long, slender, well-branched CHARACTERISTIC
and adventitious. S
OF EQUISETUM
Aerial shoots, which arise from the rhizome
towards upper side, are of two types, i.e.,
sterile or vegetative shoots and fertile or
reproductive shoots.
Both the sterile and fertile aerial shoots are
ribbed and divisible into nodes and internodes,
but the former is well-branched and long-lived
while the latter (fertile shoots) are generally
unbranched and short-lived structures. CHARACTERISTIC
S
From the nodes of aerial sterile shoots arise two OF EQUISETUM
types of branches in whorls. Some are long,
unlimited in growth, well-branched and contain
the same structure as the main axis of aerial
sterile shoot. Others are short, also bear nodes
and inter- nodes but are limited in growth and
unbranched
Fertile shoots are unbranched, colourless or
pale- yellow coloured branches, each of which
bears a strobilus at the tip.

On the nodes of rhizome, sterile shoot and

fertile shoots are present many scaly leaves.
CHARACTERISTIC
S
These leaves are green when young but become OF EQUISETUM
yellow or red-coloured at maturity.

The upper end of each leaf is free and pointed

but all of them unite below at the base to form a
sheath on the node.
The number of leaves represents the number of
ridges on the internode.

Many round or irregular bodies are present on

the rhizome. These are thick-walled and meant CHARACTERISTIC
for vegetative reproduction. These are called S
tubers OF EQUISETUM
Functions of various parts of the sporophyte are as follows:
(a) Roots – Absorption and fixation;
(b) Rhizome – Storage;
(c) Sterile shoots – Photosynthetic
(d) Fertile shoot – Reproductive.
 Reproduction
Equisetum reproduces vegetatively and by means of spores.

i. Vegetative Reproduction: CHARACTERISTIC

S
The subterranean rhizomes of some species (e.g., E. telmateia, E. OF EQUISETUM
arvense) form tubers which, on separation from the parent plant,
germinate to produce new sporophytic plants. The tubers develop due
to irregular growth of some buds at the nodes of the rhizomes.
 Reproduction
The spores are spherical and filled with densely packed chloroplasts. The spore wall is
laminated and shows four concentrate layers. The innermost is the delicate intine,
followed by thick exine, the middle cuticular layer and the outermost epispore or CHARACTERISTIC
S
perispore. The intine (endospore) and exine (exospore) are the true walls of the spore.

• The outer two layers i.e., cuti­cular layer and epispore are derived due to the
OF EQUISETUM
disintegration of the nonfunctional spore mother cells and tapetal cells. At
maturity, the epispore (the outermost layer) splits to produce four ribbon like
bands or strips with flat spoon-like tips.
• These bands are free from the spore wall except for a common point of
attachment and remain tightly coiled around the spore wall until the sporangium is
fully matured.
• These are called elater The elaters are hygroscopic in nature.
 Reproduction
The gametophytic plant body bears sex organs i.e.,
antheridium (male) and archegonium (female). The CHARACTERISTIC
gametophyte S
are basically bisexual (homothallic) i.e., they bear OF EQUISETUM
both male and female sex organs . Although, some
unisexual members are also reported Some are
initially unisexual and then become bisexual.
 Reproduction

i. ANTHERIDIA
In monoecious species, antheridia develop later than archegonia CHARACTERISTIC
Antheridia first appear on the lobes of the gametophyte. The
S
antherozoids escape through a pore created by the separation of
the apical jacket cell. OF EQUISETUM
The apical part of the antherozoid is spirally coiled, whereas the
lower part is, to some extent, expanded (Fig. 7.88F). Each
antherozoid has about 120 flagella attached to the anterior end.
 Reproduction

An archego­nium has a projecting neck comprising of

CHARACTERISTIC
three to four tiers of neck cells arranged in four
S
rows, two neck canal cells of unequal size, a ventral
OF EQUISETUM
canal cell, and an egg at the base of the embed­ded
venter. The archegonia are confined to cushion
region in- between the aerial lobes
Reprod
uction
Fertilisation: CHARACTERISTIC
S
Water is essential for fertilisation. The OF EQUISETUM
game­tophyte must be covered with a thin
layer of water in which the motile
antherozoides swim to the archegonia.
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