horsetail seeds France

... flower, and does not produce seeds. The stems can be fertile or sterile, but all have nodes surrounded by a scaly sheath. Fertile stems, which are brown, appear in spring and end with an ovoid sporangium spike. The sterile stems, on the other hand, are green and appear later. They are hollow, branched, and bear thin, stiff leaves resembling twigs at each node. It is indeed the thread-like appearance of these twigs that has given it its nickname.