While hiking near the northern boarder of Yellowstone in late May we noticed a small area of these plants. We showed the pictures to several park rangers, but they could not make the identification. We tried several books without any positive ID. The plants are about six inches tall and the stalks about as thick as a pencil. Any ideas?
Horsetail, Equisetum? Welcome to the Forum! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Equisetum_arvense_fr.jpg
Agreed, and likely the species togata57 refers to: Equisetum arvense Little bit surprised the park rangers didn't know about horsetails, but then again, maybe not.
These are the "girls" of the horsetail plants. The boys are the one with a pine tree look and medical properties, these girlies are for reproduction.
