This document summarizes information about the phylum Sphenophyta, or horsetails. It discusses how horsetails were once large woody trees but now only the genus Equisetum remains. Equisetum has jointed, ribbed stems that make a rasping noise when rubbed. The document outlines the classification of horsetails, describes their life cycle including heterosporous reproduction, and lists some common species of Equisetum that can grow in moist habitats.

1. Phylum Sphenophyta
( Horsetails )
Pagador, Sittie Aina Sarip

2. Objectives
To know more about this phylum.
To know its phylogeny.
To be able to understand there life cycle
and habitat.

3. Equisetum of 15 species
remains of this once large group
woody trees of Carboniferous Age
forest. Equisetum is one of the easiest
plants to recognize. It has jointed,
ribbed and hollow stems impregnated
with so much silica that are rasping
noise is heard when stems are rubbed
together. They are most often found
in sites that are moist for at least part
of the growing season.

4. • horsetails; have jointed stems and
tiny scale like leaves at joints,
spores produced in strobilus at
tip of stem .
• sometimes called scouring
rushes due to pioneer women
using them to wash dishes,
Phylum Sphenophyta

5. Classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Sphenophyta
Class: Equisetae
Family:Equisetaceae
Scientific name: Equisetum

6. Horsetails (Equisetum hyemale), a primitive vascular plant group of the Carboniferous
Period (300 million years ago) with jointed stems and a terminal spore cone (strobilus).
They are also called "scouring rushes" because the silica-impregnated stems were used to
clean pots and pans.
Home - Other Field Guides
Kingdom - Plants - Plantae
Division - Horsetails - Equisetophyta
Class - Horsetails - Equisetopsida
Order - Horsetails -
Equisetales
Family - Horsetails -
Equisetaceae
Species - Rough Horsetail - Equisetum
hyemale

7. PHYLOGENY

9. • Paleozoic sphenophytes grew up to thirty meters tall (nearly
100 feet).
Brief History of Sphenophyta
http://people.uvawise.edu/swvaflora/Sphenophyllum2072.jpg

10. Three Oders of Equisetopsid (Accoding to fossil Record):
1. Pseudoborniales – which appear in the late Devonian.
2. Sphenophyllales – which are a dominant member of the
Carboniferous understory, and prospered until mid and early
Permian respectively.
3. Equisetales – existed alongside the Sphenophyllales, but
diversified as that group disappeared into extinction, gradually
dwilling in diversity to today’s single genus Equisetum.

12. Reproduction and Habitat
Two types of stems:
 The fertile (reproductive) stems
appear in the early spring. The tips of
fertile stems end in a yellowish to
brownish spore-producing cone.
Fertile stems wither and die once
spores have been produced, usually by
early summer
 Sterile (vegetative) stems emerge
later than the fertile stems and are
markedly different. They look like
miniature pine trees with their plume-
like branches

14. Genus Equisetum can grow in somewhat dry habitats, most species
prefer moist soils; moisture is necessary for sperm to reach the egg cells.
Equisetum may be very common, forming extensive "thickets." Because
of their ability to regenerate rapidly from pieces of rhizome, Equisetum
species can survive well in environments that are often disturbed, such
as riverbanks, or your lawn

15. Sterile shoots of horsetail (those that look like small pine trees)
• appear in early May
• reach a maximum growth rate in July,
• maximum shoot height in August, and
• maximum shoot number in September
(Marshall, 1985). Rhizome Growth
accelerates rapidly between June and July and
peaks in October.
Tubers
• appear in July
• and increase in weight until a killing frost occurs.

16. Illustration of vegetative growth of Equisetum arvense from
(a) tuber and (b) rhizome fragment

18. Heterosporous – Microspore and Megaspore (microspore in male cone and becomes male
gametophyte, megaspore in female cone and becomes female gametophyte)
LIFE CYCLE OF SPHENOPHYTA

19. Sphenophyta
Homosporous,as were most of their
fossil relatives; that is, they produced
only one type of spore.

20. Dwarf Scouring-rush
Equisetum scirpoides
Field Horsetail
Equisetum arvense
Marsh Horsetail
Equisetum palustre
Woodland Horsetail
Equisetum sylvaticum
Variegated Horsetail
Equisetum variegatum
Water Horsetail
Equisetum fluviatile

21. Meadow Horsetail
Equisetum pratens
Rough Horsetail
Equisetum hyemale
Smooth Scouring-rush
Equisetum laevigatum

22. THANK YOU FOR LISTENING!
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