Hello all, I am hoping that you can help me identify the plant below. It looks like a bamboo to me, but I am having a hard time figuring out the type. I realize that the leaves are cut off so I'm not sure if that will make it harder for identification. Thanks in advance for any help you can give me!
It certainly appears to be, but without leaves it makes it hard for me. Someone else might know... Ed
My guess is Equisetum hyemale. I think that is the same as what Ron B stated. It looks like it is growing in some water right?
Thanks so much for your quick replies. I am new to S. California and haven't seen anything like this before so I was just curious. I will look up your suggestions!
Agree with Equisetum hyemale (Rough Horsetail) http://ip30.eti.uva.nl/BIS/flora.php?selected=beschrijving&menuentry=soorten&id=1456 Not a rush Juncus, that doesn't have jointed stems.
"Scouring rush" is a common name (North American) for Equisetum; the silica content in the plant cells purportedly made the plant useful for "scouring" dishes and pots...
Not a good idea to call it something that it isn't, though. A bit like calling an Equus a cat, when everyone else calls it a horse. Plain silly, and very unhelpful.
Well, there are many examples of this from both sides of the ocean; an example - referring to Tilia spp. as "lime" springs to mind.
True there are a few scattered examples on this side of the Atlantic (calling Acer pseudoplatanus just 'Sycamore' [i.e., Ficus sycomorus] instead of 'Sycamore Maple' is another), never said not, but nothing like the wholesale wrecking of name meanings that gets so heavily promoted by your side!
Simple usage of common names among a population does not constitute the promoting of them or the forcing of them onto another group of people elsewhere. Since you have by now made thousands of posts from England directed at North Americans insisting they are using the "wrong" common names, it is you who are exhibiting the behavior you are complaining of.
Wrong. It very much does so. You're telling everyone that that is the correct name for the plant and the one to be used.
I have to agree that the 'common name' difference is a problem. Personally, I avoid it if at all possible. In my area, we have a tremendous number of 'Sago Palms.' Not proper Sago palms (Metroxylon sagu), mind you, but Cycas revoluta; a cycad, not a palm. To make matters worse, they also sell "Queen Sago palms," which are also a cycad, Cycas circinalis. My main interest up until recently has alway been in ferns. I can't tell you how many times I've been offered a 'bear paw fern' with the owners sending photos of Polypodium aureum, P. aureum 'Mandianum,' Aglaomorpha coronans, cornucopia, and meyeniana, as well as several Davallia species, and Microsorum diversifolium...
