variegated horsetail

9.9

A small plant with thin jointed stems that have stripes of different color

noun

: cola de caballo variegada

The variegated horsetail thrives in wet meadows and near streams across northern Europe.

Examples

Botanists identified patches of variegated horsetail growing near the lake's rocky shore.
Due to its distinctive appearance, the variegated horsetail is often used in botanical illustrations.
The variegated horsetail grows near the riverbank.
Have you seen a variegated horsetail before?
The variegated horsetail thrives in wet meadows and near streams across northern Europe.
Due to its distinctive appearance, the variegated horsetail is often used in botanical illustrations.
Botanists identified patches of variegated horsetail growing near the lake's rocky shore.

Synonyms

Equisetum variegatum

vsvariegated horsetail

Specialized

9.9

A small plant with thin jointed green stems and ringed branches that grows in wet northern places

is the common everyday name used instead of the Latin label

variegated scouring rush

vsvariegated horsetail

9.9

A plant with hollow striped stems used to scrub pots

is focused on stem color patterns rather than on a scouring use

Surface Forms

variegated horsetail singular

variegated horsetails plural

Morphology

variegated + horsetail

The meaning is directly compositional: 'variegated' (having patches of different colors) modifies 'horsetail' (a segmented plant), yielding a horsetail plant with variegated coloring. This is a literal descriptive/taxonomic compound rather than an idiom, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the meaning.

Etymology

Variegated horsetail is named for how the plant looks: the thin, jointed stems fan out like a horse's tail, so the part horsetail refers to that shape, and variegated means 'different colors' or 'striped'. That's why the name describes the plant's striped, tail-like stems.