Woodland Horsetail
Equisetum sylvaticum
Found in seepage swamps. Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Northern Tier edition What its natural habitat tells you
Native to Virginia. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 35%
- Soil moisture
- Average to wet
No photograph yet. Looking for an old drawing…
Rare or protected plant. Specialist conservation planting; excluded from routine garden suggestions. Plant caution source
Hidden from default planting suggestions. Wildlife value and native status remain unchanged.
At a glance
Not yet recorded · Height · Spread · Light · Life cycle · Leaves · Bloom
This plant is missing most of its facts, so Quercus is looking them up in old botany books.
Recorded in 3 Virginia counties.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.


Also found with this plant
Wildlife whose habitat models include habitats this plant grows in, in Virginia. Shared habitat, not food. 73 animals.
- Downy WoodpeckerPicoides pubescens
- Eastern KingbirdTyrannus tyrannus
- Eastern TowheePipilo erythrophthalmus
- Fish CrowCorvus ossifragus
- Golden-crowned KingletRegulus satrapa
- Golden-winged WarblerVermivora chrysoptera
- Gray CatbirdDumetella carolinensis
- Great Blue HeronArdea herodias
- Great Crested FlycatcherMyiarchus crinitus
- Great EgretArdea alba
- Great Horned OwlBubo virginianus
- Green HeronButorides virescens
- Hooded MerganserLophodytes cucullatus
- Hooded WarblerWilsonia citrina
- Horned GrebePodiceps auritus
- Least FlycatcherEmpidonax minimus
- Magnolia WarblerDendroica magnolia
- MallardAnas platyrhynchos
- Northern CardinalCardinalis cardinalis
- Northern FlickerColaptes auratus
- Northern MockingbirdMimus polyglottos
- Northern Rough-winged SwallowStelgidopteryx serripennis
- Olive-sided FlycatcherContopus cooperi
- Peregrine FalconFalco peregrinus
Who uses this plant?
8BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim
Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Equisetum
- Anser caerulescensSnow Goose
- Antigone canadensisSandhill Crane
- Bonasa umbellusRuffed Grouse
- Branta canadensisCanada Goose
- Cygnus buccinatorTrumpeter Swan
- Falcipennis canadensisSpruce Grouse
- Lagopus lagopusWillow Ptarmigan
- Lagopus mutaRock Ptarmigan
Direct food only: birds recorded eating this genus across North America. Caterpillars on host plants also feed nesting birds. NC Native Plant Society: butterfly gardening
No records yet · Ants · Beetles · Flies · Adult butterflies / moths · Other wasps · Other insects
Plant details
- Family
- Family not recorded
Conservation status
| Virginia rank | S1 |
|---|---|
| Global rank | Not available |
| VA status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Will it fit your yard?
Check this plant against your county, sun and soil moisture. Conditions are checked in your browser.
Sources
- Virginia DCR Natural Heritage rare plant list
- Digital Atlas of the Virginia Flora
- Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Northern Tier edition
- NatureServe Explorer
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications

























