Like ferns, horsetails (Equisetum) do not produce seeds. They produce spores instead. The spores are produced in a beautiful structure called the strobilus. These small spores (around mm) have evolved an amazing adaptation that increases their dispersal and therefore makes it easier for new horsetail plants to expand further away.
.
The Equisetum spores have four appendages (elaters) that quickly deploy or retract depending on the level of environmental humidity (the movement of the spores in the video is played in real time).
.
Understanding the biomechanics of the walking and jumping of these spores could one day lead to the engineering of self-propelled objects.
.
Equisetum plants (horsetails) are living fossils! In other words, Equisetum is the only remaining representative genus of a group of plants that are close relatives of ferns. Millions of years ago, horsetails were very abundant on Earth.
.
During the Carboniferous period, these plants were huge (giant trees in some cases) and very abundant. Due to geological and environmental factors, the incredibly abundant dead organic matter generated by horsetails (and other plants) did not decompose. Over millions of years, pressure and heat made all this plant organic matter fossilize in the form of coal (this is why coal is a “fossil fuel”).
.
So basically, every piece of coal that gets burned likely contains some fossilized horsetail dead organic matter.
.
For this video I used an Olympus CX31 microscope and up to 400x magnification.
.
For more information about the movement of Equisetum spores:
Philippe Marmottant, Alexandre Ponomarenko, Diane Bienaimé. The walk and jump of Equisetum spores. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, Royal Society, The, 2013, 280 (1770), . ffhal-00911670
0 views
1768
816
4 years ago 00:03:36 39
Tangled - I See the Light (HD)
7 years ago 00:03:23 12K
Tyler The Creator SEE YOU AGAIN
3 years ago 00:10:04 7
The best Champion ACE you will see
8 years ago 00:02:27 214
Injustice 2 The Greatest Comeback You Will EVER See!
8 years ago 00:03:45 3K
Miley Cyrus - See You Again in the Live Lounge
4 years ago 00:03:58 9
The Animals - See See Rider (1967)
6 years ago 00:11:01 328
When Challenger Players See The Outplay...
13 years ago 00:03:55 136
The Way We See The World
10 years ago 00:02:09 923
See One of Rise of the Tomb Raider’s Craziest Tombs
9 years ago 00:12:45 79
ABZÛ PS4 Gameplay - See the Most Beautiful Water on PlayStation
12 years ago 00:07:16 32
See The Light
4 years ago 00:03:45 87
Mandy Moore & Zachary Levi () - I See The Light
2 years ago 00:02:15 4K
See Who’s Joining the Family in The Sims 4
5 years ago 00:00:19 19
See the picture and see the truth
5 years ago 00:09:10 220
I Can See The Sun
12 years ago 00:03:28 14
Life - See The Light
11 years ago 00:05:51 120
See you in the future
12 years ago 00:01:12 397
See the Signs
7 years ago 01:30:55 976
OG vs EG, The International 2018, Playoff, game 3, MUST SEE!!!
13 years ago 00:03:12 668
MOTIVATION - TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL - MUST SEE!