Strange plant/weed/fungus in garden

 


Hello, first post so please excuse me if i'm posting in the wrong
forum.

I have just moved into a new house with my wife and daughters, we have a
nice
garden but its been a bit neglected over the years by the previous
owner and
whilst going over it my wife noticed we have an abundance of a
strange plant
that we dont recognise. It looks a bit mushroom like but
its 'cap' is hard, and
when mowing the lawn my wife said that it looked
like it emited smoke or spores.
One of our main worries is for our young daughter who will be starting
to use
the garden in the summer and we want to know what this plant is,
if its
dangerous and how to get rid of it. Any help identifying it will
be most
appreciated.

Here are a couple of pictures I took of this mystery

[image:
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a261/HytestA/20042010103sml.jpg ]

[image:
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a261/HytestA/20042010105sml.jpg ]




--
HytestA

 

HytestA said:

Yes, it is emitting spores.  Equisetum (horsetail, scouring rush) are plants
that reproduce by spores rather than seeds.  They are often referred to as
'living fossils' as they were the dominant type of land-plant hundreds of
millions of years ago.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equisetum


It's not particularly dangerous for humans, though it can be toxic to
sheep and horses as a contaminant in hay.

The 'getting rid of it' is going to be very hard.  The underground part of
the plant is wiry and tenacious and herbicides like Roundup not particularly
effective (it helps to bruise the horsetails before spraying).  

http://www.agf.gov.bc.ca/cropprot/hrsetail.htm

http://www.gardenguides.com/854-horsetail-weed.html

--
Pat in Plymouth MI
    
"Vegetables are like bombs packed tight with all kinds of important
nutrients..."     --Largo Potter, Valkyria  Chronicles
 
email valid but not regularly monitored
  

 


'Pat Kiewicz[_2_ Wrote:

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equisetum )

Thank you Pat for your help, looks like im going to have fun removing
this :(




--
HytestA

 

Pat Kiewicz wrote:

I've had better luck with weed-b-gon than roundup on horsetail.