Is there a botanist in the house? **Sorted**

By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics and access other forums reserved for members. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today by clicking here.

Baiting Guru Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12237

Can anyone identify this weed that sprung up in an empty field next to my house? I have never seen anything like it, and they have everyone in the neighborhood scratching their heads.

Does anyone know a good botany forum that I could post this in?

Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 4:51 pm

I don't know even what country you are in...but my area we use the Rutgers University site. http://njaes.rutgers.edu/weeds/thumbnail.asp Also US, but this is good site: http://weedid.aces.uiuc.edu/

Do a Google Search for "weed identification" and your area.

It kind of looks like some type of bamboo...but no leaves?

Baiting Guru Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12237

^^^I'm in Minnesota.

Thanks for the links, Ill take a look.

Elite Baiter Joined: 16 Jul 2008 Posts: 1407

It looks like a weed I used to see at summer camp in Michign in the summer. If I remember correctly I think it had alligator in the name. But that was 20 years ago, and I am probably off.

If you pull on it, it will not break, but the pieces will separate at the dark rings. And it will look kinda serrated. They smell funny too.

Also, in RL I do some backyard ponding. The website I go to for ponding has related plant sites. Here is the one for native US plants, and it seems active as far as postings go:

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/natives/

Good luck and report back the name will you?

Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 5:37 pm

I can't help you on the name, but when we were kids we used to throw a big pile of those stems onto the campfire.

It wood make a neat popping sound as it burned. I guess the air in each section would expand to the point where it would explode like popcorn.

Baiting Guru Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12237

Tastysnack wrote:

Good luck and report back the name will you?

I will. I just emailed a professor of botany at the University of Minnesota and asked for help in identifying it.

Edit^^^

Quote:

Joined: 17 Nov 2004
Posts: 24
Location: Not Important

Postwhore! Laughing

Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 5:49 pm

LOL.....yes, my plan is working.....I should reach 100 posts sometime in the year 2024 Wink

Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 6:15 pm

Perhaps a type of "Horsetail"

http://www.puritan.com/vf/healthnotes/HN_live/Herb/Horsetail.htm

Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 6:16 pm

I don't have a good sense of scale from your pic but it looks like Japanese knotweed. It's starting to invade our neighborhood too (Nord'east).

Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 6:17 pm

^^

Pastor Frank... Could be some kind of Horsetail. The immature form looks something like that. http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=EQHY

Baiting Guru Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12237

^^^That looks exactly like it. It is interesting that it is described as a "wetland" plant, I wonder how it spread here.

Edit: I think the mystery is solved. Thanks gang.

Elite Baiter Joined: 16 Jul 2008 Posts: 1407

That's a pretty crappy photoshop Pastor Frank. We can all see that your plant is MUCH different than the one on the computer. The colors are off, and the size is even different.

Your going to have to work harder than that to convince us. Besides you didn't even have the red seal of truth to verify your submission. Or the scales of justice, at a minimum.

Baiting Guru Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12237

Tastysnack wrote:

Or the scales of justice, at a minimum.

Better?

Elite Baiter Joined: 16 Jul 2008 Posts: 1407

I'd say you found your plant. Like a lad though, you made us do all the work Rolling Eyes

Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 6:51 pm

@PF

You sure you are in Minnesota? Looks more like Texas from here!

We have a lot of "mares tail" here but it seems to be a lot smaller ( max 12")

Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 6:51 pm

I think there are different varieties.

Baiting Guru Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12237

Tastysnack wrote:

Like a lad though, you made us do all the work Rolling Eyes

Let me fix that for you.

Like a good baiter, I made you do all the work. Laughing

Thanks again everyone.

Edit:

music man wrote:

@PF

You sure you are in Minnesota?

Yes.

Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 7:00 pm

Maybe I should lock this.

If that thing can thrive in the dust bowl in your picture, it'll probably spread all over the forum. Confused

Baiting Guru Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12237

The original question has been sorted. I would not object to a lock, I would hate to see this turn into a PWT. Laughing

Elite Baiter Joined: 16 Jul 2008 Posts: 1407

I'm just trying to figure out why I remembered calling it alligator grass, when it's not.

Thanks for the memories of camp though.

How north in MN are you Frank? I've been up through Portage/Gunflint Trail area many a time. The boundry waters are awesome. Great fishing!

Baiting Guru Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12237

I live in the Twin Cities, but my cabin is up near Brainerd.

Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 7:22 pm

And before anyone asks, the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul are NOT separated by the Mississippi River.

Baiting Guru Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12237

^^^

We need to get together soon up in Nor'east for a beer.

Baiting Guru Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12237

Bump, for those that were actually interested in this thread.

Confirmed as horsetail, here is the reply I received from a professor of botany at the University of Minnesota.

Quote:

Hi....it is a horsetail in the genus Equisetum. they are non-flowering plants and also called scouring rushes because the silica rich stems were presumably used to clean pots/dishes by the early settlers, etc. I'm less certain of the species but it may be Equisetum arvense - i'm away from my office for awhile and don't have my books to confirm. You could do a check of the different species of horsetails in, say, the USDA plants database or other source. Many of the horsetails prefer low moist soils, though this one clearly doesn't mind a little sand.

Posted: Thu May 14, 2009 2:49 am

Thanks for the update! From the descriptions I read it sounds like a rather annoying weed.

Is there a botanist in the house? Sorted	View next topic View previous topic