• The very high rates of convective ventilation reported recently in Equisetum telmateia (up to 120 cm(3) min(-1); internal wind speed, 10 cm s(-1)) prompted this study of a further eight species for the presence or absence of convection and the possible reasons for this. • Convection rates were examined in relation to anatomical pathways, internal resistance to applied pressurized gas flow and stomata. • Only species with interconnecting cortical aerenchyma in branches (when present), shoots and rhizomes induced convection. Rapid humidity-induced convection (HIC) occurred in E. palustre (up to 13 cm(3) min(-1)), with slower rates in E. × schaffneri and E. ramosissimum (≤ 6 and 3 cm(3) min(-1), respectively). Excised shoots of E. hyemale and E. fluviatile showed the potential for HIC (≤ 0.5 and 0.15 cm(3) min(-1), respectively), but not into the rhizomes. High rates were linked to low internal gas flow resistance. No convection was detected in E. scirpoides, E. sylvaticum or E. arvense due to the extremely high resistance to pressure flow, for example, from intercalary meristems and, in the last two, to nonaerenchymatous branches. • Of the nine Equisetum species studied so far, four showed through-flow convection; the other species must rely solely on diffusion for underground aeration in wet soils.
© 2010 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2010 New Phytologist Trust.