Equisetum

High school (ages 12+)
Animals & Nature

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/equisetum

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the scientific name?Equisetum
2. What is the diet?Autotrophic; performs photosynthesis
3. What does a horsetail plant look like?Horsetails look like tiny green Christmas trees with nodes and whorls of small leaves. They have a hollow center that runs through the stem.
4. How do horsetails spread and grow new plants?They grow underground rhizomes that send out new stems. This lets them form large, clonal stands that can cover a lot of ground.

Strobili: Cone-like structures on fertile horsetail stems that bear spores for reproduction.
Rhizomes: Modified underground stems that enable vegetative propagation and perennial survival.
Paleobotany: The study of fossil plants, providing insights into ancient plant life and evolution.