Horsetail strobilus

The strobilus contains spores on the fertile stems of a Horsetail. Horsetails always fascinate me and I love to take photos of them. This one is still closed, but they are photogenic at each stage. I will add a previously posted photo in a comment box below, showing an open one. The first of the two photos below shows the Strobilus of a Horsetail, a cone-like structure where the spores are released from. Other stems look like the second photo, which shows a typical sterile stem.

"Equisetum (/ˌɛkwɨˈsiːtəm/; horsetail, snake grass, puzzlegrass) is the only living genus in Equisetaceae, a family of vascular plants that reproduce by spores rather than seeds.

Equisetum is a "living fossil" as it is the only living genus of the entire class Equisetopsida, which for over one hundred million years was much more diverse and dominated the understory of late Paleozoic forests. Some Equisetopsida were large trees reaching to 30 meters tall. The genus Calamites of the family Calamitaceae, for example, is abundant in coal deposits from the Carboniferous period." From Wikipedia.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equisetum

There were two walks I wanted to go on yesterday, 20 June 2018 - an afternoon botany walk at Griffith Woods, especially as I have missed most of the walks this session; and a birding walk in the evening in Fish Creek Park. Usually, I don't do two walks on the same day.

Photographed the Great Blue Heron at the river's edge and the bright yellow Gaillardia flower at the Fish Creek Park location. This Horsetail photo was taken at Griffith Woods. After the evening walk, a few of us went to Tim Horton's for coffee and chat. Coffee doesn't usually keep me awake, but I guess I'm not normally drinking it at 10:00 pm! Despite feeling tired out from two walks, I was also 'wired' and it was 6:00 am before i finally fell into bed. An hour later, I was awake, so today is definitely a slow day at home, as it feels like my brain is barely functioning..