In the UK, it is known by lots of names, shavegrass, pewterwort, bottlebrush, horsetail rush, paddock-pipes, Dutch rushes, mare's tail.
Hippuris vulgaris is an aquatic plant so I guess the poster didn't mean that.
what will you do with this
- Thread starter Rui
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Hippuris vulgaris is an aquatic plant so I guess the poster didn't mean that.
Thanks be to Linnaeus for giving us his latin!
I think when we are talking about plants for eating or drinking, we should be quite precise in our identification - a slight mixup in the name could lead to more than a slightly mixed up stomach!
Otherwise we'll need a special forum for first aid theads
I think when we are talking about plants for eating or drinking, we should be quite precise in our identification - a slight mixup in the name could lead to more than a slightly mixed up stomach!
Otherwise we'll need a special forum for first aid theads
Both arvense and northern giant are pretty much interchangeable in use. We just call them horsetail or mare's tail, and they can't really be mistaken for anything else in the UK.
Plants for a future gives this on them
http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Equisetum+arvense
http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Equisetum+telmateia
What I do find is that the arvense is most prevalent on the those areas of clay soil where it dries out a fair bit. If I want to find it round here I look near abandoned waste ground, mine workings, along railway sidings, old roadsides and the like. It doesn't thrive in my inclined to be waterlogged soil.
I deliberately grow some, like mint in a big pot, so that I have clean stuff to hand.
cheers,
Toddy
Plants for a future gives this on them
http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Equisetum+arvense
http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Equisetum+telmateia
What I do find is that the arvense is most prevalent on the those areas of clay soil where it dries out a fair bit. If I want to find it round here I look near abandoned waste ground, mine workings, along railway sidings, old roadsides and the like. It doesn't thrive in my inclined to be waterlogged soil.
I deliberately grow some, like mint in a big pot, so that I have clean stuff to hand.
cheers,
Toddy
Thanks Toddy.
For people like me, at the bottom of the genes pool, we get confused sometimes by the common names, which can vary from region to region. The danger is that we think that botany is something above our heads and give up on it.
That was my attitude until I got a few decent books on it.
For people like me, at the bottom of the genes pool, we get confused sometimes by the common names, which can vary from region to region. The danger is that we think that botany is something above our heads and give up on it.
That was my attitude until I got a few decent books on it.
Well I knew what it was.....but had absolutely no idea what ti could be used for.....I'm gonna have to return to this thread a fes times to digest all the info provided.....
Thanks to the original poster...
Smoggy
Thanks to the original poster...
Smoggy
No, you are quite right, we ought to give the latin names to assure identification.
It's just that we know the plants by the 'common' names, and that's what we're most inclined to use when we're talking about them, and I'm as guilty as anyone else for doing it.
cheers,
Toddy
It's just that we know the plants by the 'common' names, and that's what we're most inclined to use when we're talking about them, and I'm as guilty as anyone else for doing it.
cheers,
Toddy
xylaria
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Ray mears wild mentions four members of the horsetail family Equisetaceae.
Wood horsetail [E. sylvaticium] it says" the green parts are poisonous: in fact he only part of the plant that is definitely edible is the bud at the end of the rhizomes, which starts to swell in early september [book gives picture of this part of the plant].... Steaming or boiling them ..the buds have a soft floury texture and taste of potato with a hazelnut aftertaste.
Marsh horsetail [e. palustre] No mention of toxicology for this plant, but the buds can be eaten the same way as above.
Great horsetail [E. talmatia] wetland plant. The buds start to surface in january... The buds are not pleasant and are possibly poisonious but the sporagenic vegatative buds taste pleasant. (I don't quite know what he means by differance between the two types of bud) They are small and produce a small yeild, so are really not worth the considerable effort involved in getting them.
The same proberly applies to the sporogenic buds of the field horsetail (E. arvense). However it is worth mentioning that the dena'ina of alaska use what seem to be the sporogenic tubers of this horsetail as a food in their raw state. { long piece about the indigenous consumption} .. Clearly we need to test some populations of british field horsetail to see if any of them are equally edible and have the same properties. In the meantime, we recommed that you don't try to eat the sporogenic buds of british populations.
Horsetail [e.arvense] tea is mentioned in quite a few herbals as a nutriative tonic and as a salve for rheumatism. In alaska it is eaten at the begining of spring as the snow melts, the natural diet during the winter is very high in meat so is high B vitamins. Bare in mind some chinese medicines produce liver changes in indo-europeans, but are fine when used by amer-asiatics.
Wood horsetail [E. sylvaticium] it says" the green parts are poisonous: in fact he only part of the plant that is definitely edible is the bud at the end of the rhizomes, which starts to swell in early september [book gives picture of this part of the plant].... Steaming or boiling them ..the buds have a soft floury texture and taste of potato with a hazelnut aftertaste.
Marsh horsetail [e. palustre] No mention of toxicology for this plant, but the buds can be eaten the same way as above.
Great horsetail [E. talmatia] wetland plant. The buds start to surface in january... The buds are not pleasant and are possibly poisonious but the sporagenic vegatative buds taste pleasant. (I don't quite know what he means by differance between the two types of bud) They are small and produce a small yeild, so are really not worth the considerable effort involved in getting them.
The same proberly applies to the sporogenic buds of the field horsetail (E. arvense). However it is worth mentioning that the dena'ina of alaska use what seem to be the sporogenic tubers of this horsetail as a food in their raw state. { long piece about the indigenous consumption} .. Clearly we need to test some populations of british field horsetail to see if any of them are equally edible and have the same properties. In the meantime, we recommed that you don't try to eat the sporogenic buds of british populations.
Horsetail [e.arvense] tea is mentioned in quite a few herbals as a nutriative tonic and as a salve for rheumatism. In alaska it is eaten at the begining of spring as the snow melts, the natural diet during the winter is very high in meat so is high B vitamins. Bare in mind some chinese medicines produce liver changes in indo-europeans, but are fine when used by amer-asiatics.
I've never seen what the OP photo showed, but interesting to see it's uses.
We had what is commonly called mares tail in our last garden and sure enough we never did get rid off it!
We had what is commonly called mares tail in our last garden and sure enough we never did get rid off it!
some fantastic info folks : )
you guys never fail to impress with your depth of knowledge great stuff
you guys never fail to impress with your depth of knowledge great stuff
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