Salutations, BugFans,<\/p>\n
Sometimes (often), the facts about an insect do not come tied up neatly with a bow, and the research seeps out of the realm of the six-legged and raises as many questions as it answers.<\/p>\n
In early May of 2014, the BugLady was photographing Equisetum\/Horsetail not far from a wetland edge (because it\u2019s such a neat plant). Field horsetail (Equisetum arvense<\/em>), a common roadside species, first raises a tan, non-photosynthetic, fertile stalk topped by a structure called a cone, which bears the spore-producing sporangiophores (modified leaves). This stage is followed by a sterile, green plant that looks like a mini-pine tree and that photosynthesizes, its energy stored in a perennial rhizome. In other species of Equisetum<\/em>, the fertile cone is located on top of the sterile stem (here’s a look at an equisetum side trip and The Most Awesome Video Ever<\/a>).<\/p>\n