Rough Horsetail (Equisetum hyemale) at Chaddesley Woods

Rough Horsetail *Equisetum hyemale*, near pool at Chaddesley Woods NNR

On Saturday (22.03.2025) we held a North Worcestershire Flora Group meeting at Chaddesley Woods NNR. We had set out to record along the main rides, but also to search for two rarities: Marsh violet Viola palustris and Rough Horsetail Equisetum hyemale.

We failed to refind the marsh violet after a fruitless 30 minutes searching the ditch where it was last recorded as ‘a few plants’ in 2010 by R. Maskew.

Although, there was a lot of leaf litter, and a large fallen tree which may have been covering them, it was also fairly early in the year. It was noted that there were no Sphagnum moss which would normally be expected associates.

Following this we walked to the pool located at SO 91053 73648 and began our search for Rough Horsetail Equisetum hymale. With only 44 all time records of this species in the county, and only known from two tetrads post-1987, it’s one of our rarer species. It was originally found at this location by previous county recorder Fred Fincher during 1978.

We stood a good chance of re-finding this record, as it was a known population most recently seen in 2016 by R. Maskew, where there were ‘400 stems, poolside’.

After a lap of the pond and Typha swamp, we eventually spotted a few stems protruding from the bank.

Upon close inspection it was a large patch, in a marshy area adjacent to the Typha beds, on the western bank of the pool. It was mostly abundant along the bank top and reached approximately 2m from the waters edge for a 5m length. It was located the edge of the original concrete dam wall, as mentioned in previous records.

There were hundreds of stems still, as per 2016 and associated species included Carex pendula, Arum maculatum, Mercurialis perennis and Urtica dioica.