dwarf horsetail, scirpoides

Dwarf horsetail is indeed small. These stems are only about one millimeter thick. This was one of my all time identification screw ups. Until I actually saw this, I thought another species was dwarf. But variegated horsetail, while smaller than the others, turns out to be much bigger than this. Of course, an actual reading of an identification key, with no preconceptions involved, would have solved the problem. This is the only one with curled and tangled stems. Dwarf horsetail is a circumboreal species of wet, usually shaded areas. Here it is in AK, CT(E), IA, ID, IL(E), MA(S), ME, MI, MN, MT, ND, NH, NY, SD, VT, WA, WI, WY, all of Canada, and on GL and SPM.