Horsetails

=Horsetail Plant Information=

 Horsetail is a pervasive weed. Aquatic and field varieties of horsetail grow throughout the United States, extending across the world to Russia. Its wispy appearance gives it its common name. It is used medicinally for humans, has a variety of industrial uses and absorbs gold, but can be toxic to livestock. Once planted, horsetail can be almost impossible to eradicate and is considered a noxious and invasive weed here and in other parts of the world.

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 * 1) ==Description==
 * Horsetail is a perennial plant with dark green or tan segmented, hollow stems and no true leaves. They grow to a height of 6 inches to several feet tall. Whorls of wispy branches extend from the stem resembling small Christmas trees or a bottle brush. Pinecone-shaped pods form at the end of the stem, producing thousands of germinating spores.
 * Horsetail's scientific family name is equisetaceae. They are commonly called bottlebrush, foxtail, pinetop, jointed rush, horse pipes, mare's tail, snake grass, joint grass, meadow pine, paddock pipes, pine grass, scouring rush and shave grass.
 * Field horsetail has been found in temperate climates all across the world, from North America to Russia. It has infiltrated crops, grasslands, woodlands and waste areas . Aquatic horsetail will be seen standing in marshlands or wet areas at woods' edge.
 * Silica is extracted from field horsetail and is used in diuretic medicinal products. It has also been used to control hemorrhaging. The silica can be used for abrasives, optical fibers, paint thickeners, detergents and cleaners. It accumulates gold within the plant and mining engineers can use it to indicate the presence of gold. Because of its brush-like coarseness and deposits of silica covering the stem, horsetail has been used to scour pots and pans.
 * Aquatic horsetail provides habitat and food for invertebrates. They become food for fish and other wildlife. Grizzly bears consume field horsetail, but it remains a small portion of their diet. It is not good forage for livestock--consuming it at a rate of over 20 percent of their intake is poisonous, especially to horses.
 * Horsetail reproduces by spreading its spores, but it more commonly spreads by rhizomes that creep underground forming tubers. The rhizomes form deep, invasive root systems burrowing below the ground as deep as 20 feet and extending out to 300 feet horizontally. New plants form from both fragments of the rhizomes and from tubers. It tolerates a wide range of soil conditions, from sitting in water to sand and gravel.
 * Horsetails are pervasive and may be considered an invasive and noxious weed in your state. Horsetail is considered a weed in crops around the world and may be toxic to vegetation within range. It is very difficult to control. Repeated deep chopping by hoeing or plowing will reduce the number of shoots, and use of some herbicides will partially control new growth. Drought conditions will also reduce its production.