Giant horsetails are usually living species of horsetail that grow to very large sizes, more than 1.5 meters (5 ft).
The following species are commonly known as "giant horsetails":
- Equisetum giganteum (Southern Giant Horsetail, from Latin America)
- Equisetum telmateia (Northern Giant Horsetail, from North America)
- Equisetum myriochaetum (Mexican Giant Horsetail, from Mexico)
In addition, any giant member of the Equisetopsida (horsetails and their prehistoric relatives) is liable to be called "giant horsetail" even though they are not true horsetails. Most often, the term "giant horsetail" in this somewhat inaccurate sense refers to Paleozoic Calamitaceae; in the Mesozoic, the term usually refers to the Equisetites assemblage.
Famous quotes containing the word giant:
“Long ago the country bore the country-town and nourished it with her best blood. Now the giant city sucks the country dry, insatiably and incessantly demanding and devouring fresh streams of men, till it wearies and dies in the midst of an almost uninhabited waste of country.”
—Oswald Spengler (1880–1936)