Native Americans would “bleach” horsetail plants by thoroughly wetting them and then allowing them to completely dry in the sun before making use of their silica properties or sanding and scrubbing. The horsetail plant has also been used as a fine grit type of sandpaper on wood as well as the scrubbing or polishing of metal. You can use a horsetail plant to scour pots and pans – especially if they are made of cast iron with stuck on food or rust. This texture is also why horsetail has been used as a primitive or bushcraft scouring and sanding tool. It is the intensely large amount of silica found in horsetail that causes its bristly stem texture. Silica plays a critical role in the successful completion of the life cycle of this wild herbal plant. The silica compounds found at high percentage in horsetail plants are the primary reason it has garnered favored status with both Native Americans and herbalists around the world. The stems on this type of horsetail plant are wiry and tough in texture. The fertile stems of this type of horsetail die after dispersing the spores and do not contain chlorophyll.Ī field horsetail plant resembles asparagus and is edible. This is also an edible form of the horsetail plant.įield horsetail ( Equisetum arvense L.) boasts rhizomes that are both tuberous and extremely fleshy in texture. A cone or spore style structure grows at the top of the stems. Water horsetail is also widely known as swamp horsetail (Equisetum fluviatile L.) and it has both hollow and jointed stems. Never confuse horsetail from the Equisetum arvense variety with horsetail of the Equisetum palustre variety. The unbranching stems present on horsetail plants and the “sheaths” around the nodes on the stems will help foragers be able to tell a true horsetail plant from a potentially toxic imposter. Some types of horsetail plants have toxic look alikes. You must be able to accurately identify the variety of horsetail plant you are foraging because not all varieties are equally infused with either herbal or edible properties. It is not uncommon for the different varieties of the horsetail plant to be confused with one another. The closest relative of the horsetail plant is ferns. Members of this genus are somewhat related to non-flowering spore producers. The term hyemale is a reference to the word winter and is a nod to the frequent tendency of horsetail to be an evergreen plant in some warm climates. The names aptly describe the bristly and rough texture of the horsetail plant. The term Equisetum is a minglingo the term “equi” which means horse and “seti” which means bristle. The Equisetum genus is likely more than 350 million years old.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |