Plant
Calamites
Giant horsetail
Calamites is the Carboniferous tree-sized horsetail whose ribbed, jointed pith casts are common in coal-measure sandstones and Mazon Creek concretions. Stem casts with the vertical ribs and nodes are cheap and often large; Annularia and Asterophyllites are its foliage. Pith casts are frequently mistaken for 'petrified bamboo'.
| Phylum | Tracheophyta |
|---|---|
| Class | Equisetopsida |
| Order | Equisetales |
| Family | Calamitaceae |
| Group | Plant |
| Rank (PBDB) | genus· Paleobiology Database |
| Author | Suckow 1784· Paleobiology Database |
| Classification (PBDB) | Pteridophyta › Polypodiopsida › Equisetales › Calamitaceae· Paleobiology Database |
| Range (PBDB) | 330–171 Ma· Paleobiology Database |
| PBDB occurrences | 349· Paleobiology Database |
Photographs
Elsewhere
- GBIF: 3229104
- PBDB: 125728
- Wikidata: Q11707255
- PBDB taxon page
- Wikipedia: Calamites
- PBDB search: Calamites
Cite this article
Stratum Study. "Calamites" (Taxon). Stratum Study pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-19. https://stratum.black/study/taxa/calamites. Accessed 2026-09-20.
@misc{stratum-calamites,
title = {Calamites},
author = {{Stratum Study}},
howpublished = {\url{https://stratum.black/study/taxa/calamites}},
year = {2026},
note = {Taxon article, Stratum Study pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-19; sources: stratum, pbdb, wikidata, commons, smithsonian. Accessed 2026-09-20.}
} Citations carry the pack version and the article's as-of date so they resolve to the same text later. The facts themselves belong to the sources listed below; cite those for the science.