This plant is left over from prehistoric times. It was used by Romans for cleaning pots and pans and making them nonstick. In the middle ages, it was used as an abrasive by cabinetmakers to clean pewter, brass, and copper, and for scouring wood containers and milk pans.
Horsetails grow in moist, cool woods and have many delicate branches that circle the shoots.
Horestails can be found in stream banks and in meadows in North America and Eurasia. All spores make a gametophyte generation. X yle m, which is dead, hollow stacks of cells are used in the transportation of water. Lignin is used in the xylem as support tissue to hold the stems up. Horsetails are flowerless and seedless, hence, they are in the group of seedless vascular plants.