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R A P I D R I V E R A R T S & C U L T U R E M A G A Z I N E
thoreau’s garden
Green in Winter: The Horsetails
The horsetails, or members of the
genus Equisetum, are the direct
descendents of plants that grew on
earth millions of years ago during
the Carboniferous Period of
geologic time. The vast American coalfields
were formed as mounds of this and other
vegetation sank ever deeper into the mire
and through chemical action
eventually became great veins
of coal.
At that time in earth’s
history, dragonflies sported
fourteen-inch wingspans
and flitted about misty
swamps, alighting on ferns
with fronds that rose thirty
feet into a sky that sported
scuttling clouds and smoke
from a legion of volcanoes.
And, I might add, a long time
before the dinosaurs roamed
the planet.
Today horsetails have
diminished in size, the largest
rarely topping six feet and the
smallest measured in inches.
The scientific name is from
the Latin, equus, a horse, and
seta, a bristle, referring to
the plant’s resemblance to a
horse’s tail, especially when
many of the species produce
stems covered with whorled
branchlets. The species name
of hyemale means “like
winter” this time pointing
out the absence of leaves on
the stems. Horsetails grow
along streams, lakes, ditches,
and the edges of old railroad
beds.
Evergreen shoots grow from a perennial
rhizome and have such high silica
content that in pioneer days they were used
to clean and polish pots and pads. Railroad
cooks would use a bunch of stems to clean
up the breakfast frying pan (rail workers
ate heartily way back then), finally tossing
soiled stems out the caboose window hence
Illustration by Peter Loewer
these plants are found growing
along gravel and chipped
stone railroad beds throughout
the country.
The cone-like caps that
top the ringed stems produce
spores, not seeds, and follow
a complicated reproductive
cycle like the ferns. Spores
produce small, green, lobed
prothalli that manufacture
both male and female cells,
which eventually meet to
create a new plant. The tiny pennants that
circle the rings, which in turn section off
the stems (they can be pulled apart just
like poppit beads), are primitive, scale-like
leaves, so the major part of photosynthesis
occurs in the stem.
The common horsetail (Equisetum
hyemale) does quite well in a pot where
it can spend the summer in the pool or at
the water’s edge. If you plant them directly
in the garden, be warned that they spread
with amazing energy, each piece of a plant’s
rhizome capable of creating a new plant.
When bounded by an impenetrable barrier,
these plants make a fascinating ground
cover unlike any other plant on the market.
There’s a gigantic super market called Jungle
Jim’s, in Hamilton, Ohio where the road to
Peter examines the
blossoms of earlyblooming
Lenten roses.
BY PETER LOEWER
the parking lot is a divided
highway. Guess what the
landscape architects used as
a maintenance-free plant for
the median? Why common
horsetail of course. Plant
height averages about three
feet but can range up to five
feet. Provide wet and fertile
soil in full sun. Propagate by
division most any time of the year. Horsetails
are hardy far up into Canada.
Equisetum hyemale ‘Robustum’ is an
American cultivar, often growing to a height
of seven feet. When members of the local
Ikebana Society visit our garden, everybody
wants a sample of this giant.
Equisetum scirpoides is the dwarf
scouting rush with threadlike stems about
three inches high. It makes a great groundcover
and does well in pots. Like other
members of this clan, it’s also invasive.
Peter Loewer is a well-known writer
and botanical artist who has written and
illustrated over twenty-five books on natural
history over the past thirty years.
Before You Go Outside
The Historic Johnson
Farm presents
a class led by Gary
Eblen, the Community
Outreach
Coordinator for
Diamond Brand
Gary Eblen
Outdoors. The class
will include helpful
hints, tips and ideas to make your camping,
hiking and outdoors experiences a pleasure.
The class is suitable for adults and students
ages 12 and older.
Eblen says: “My goal for this ‘class’ will
be to encourage people to ‘go outside and
play’ in our own backyard whether it be a
day hike, car camp or backpack trip. I’ll offer
suggestions on gear, food, books, maps that
are now available that will help make their
outdoor experience simple and fun. The emphasis
will be on people ‘finding their own
level of adventure.’ At Camp Mondamin (in
Henderson County where Eblen worked
many years), we often heard Chief (Frank
Bell Sr., the camp owner) define adventure
as ‘activity on one’s personal frontier.’”
IF
YOU
GO
Before You Go Outside will
be held Monday, February 22
at 7 p.m. at Historic Johnson
Farm’s Interpretive Center.
Cost is $5 per person. Pre-registration
is suggested. The farm is located
at 3346 Haywood Road, Hendersonville,
NC, across from Rugby Middle School. For
more information phone (828) 891-6585 or
visit www.historicjohnsonfarm.org.
Vol. 13, No. 6 — RAPID RIVER ARTS & CULTURE MAGAZINE — February 2010 17