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Main Boards => PowWow => Topic started by: Oldskool2 on November 26, 2012, 04:43:00 PM

Title: Need help identifying a plant
Post by: Oldskool2 on November 26, 2012, 04:43:00 PM
Does anybody know what the name of this plant is? its a dark green color, grows 3-4 ft tall is segmented every 6 inches or so and is hollow inside like a straw... oh and deer love it!!
 (http://i1289.photobucket.com/albums/b516/oldskool23/IMAG0327.jpg)
 :campfire:
Title: Re: Need help identifying a plant
Post by: rastaman on November 26, 2012, 05:14:00 PM
Looks like what we call river cane down here.  i've never seen deer eat it, but hogs will. It is hard to tell from your picture.
Title: Re: Need help identifying a plant
Post by: Shawn Rackley on November 26, 2012, 05:18:00 PM
The latin name is equisetum . Also known as horsetail someplaces
Title: Re: Need help identifying a plant
Post by: rastaman on November 26, 2012, 05:20:00 PM
I just googled it Shawn...that is a cool looking plant!
Title: Re: Need help identifying a plant
Post by: White Falcon on November 26, 2012, 05:21:00 PM
Horse tail. Cut a bunch and when it dries use as a decoration in a vaise.
Title: Re: Need help identifying a plant
Post by: Oldskool2 on November 26, 2012, 06:19:00 PM
Horsetail it is!!  rough horsetail to be exact, I also just googled it and that is definitely the same plant. the stuff is amazingly dense, deer love to bed in it, and they have been eating the heck out of it...
Thanks guys!!
Title: Re: Need help identifying a plant
Post by: Sarah on November 26, 2012, 07:03:00 PM
If I recall correctly, it sequesters silica from the soil amazingly well. If you walk through it you will notice it makes kind of a glassy scratching sound. It's really abrasive due to the silica and can be used to clean and scour. Never heard of animals eating it... very interesting, and very old plant!
Title: Re: Need help identifying a plant
Post by: MCNSC on November 26, 2012, 08:51:00 PM
Yea looks like horsetail, interesting plant, very primitive. Didn't think deer ate it though. I believe it is poison to humans.
Title: Re: Need help identifying a plant
Post by: Stumpkiller on November 26, 2012, 09:28:00 PM
Huh.  I have horsetail beside the road on my property but it never gets more than a foot tall.  Makes a good metal buffer - "scouring rush"

A very ancient plant.  100 million years and counting.
Title: Re: Need help identifying a plant
Post by: owlbait on November 26, 2012, 09:43:00 PM
Early plant in biological evolution. I believe it was one of the first plants to evolve from a water habitat to a wetland habitat. Used as a primitive abrasive/cleaner. Really neat plant, not much use for cover or food.
Title: Re: Need help identifying a plant
Post by: Gordon Jabben on November 27, 2012, 01:42:00 PM
We always called them tules as in "Way back in the tules".  Kind of like "Way back in the sticks".
Title: Re: Need help identifying a plant
Post by: on November 27, 2012, 02:15:00 PM
ive heard it called a bunch of different things.
 i just call them reeds. and deer do eat them, ive seen them. turns there poop bright green.