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The Great horsetail (Equisetum telmateia) belongs to Equisetaceae (the Horsetail family). It is a perennial fern that is found from Europe to Turkey and Iran and in northwestern Africa. It grows in moist forests. It has two types of stems: a green photosynthetic nutritive stem (sterile stem) and a pale yellowish sporophyte stem (fertile stem) that produces spores. The sterile stem (sugina) emerges in late spring and dies in late fall, reaching a height of 30 to 150 cm and a diameter of about 1 cm. It is also heavily branched, with 14 to 40 whorled branches. The fertile stem (tsukushi) emerges in early spring before the sterile stem and grow 15 to 45 cm tall, with a 4 to 10 cm long, 1 to 2 cm wide strobilus (cone) at the top. Spores are dispersed in mid-spring, and the fertile stem dies soon after spore release.
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