On Sat, 21 Aug 2004 16:00:43 GMT, Priscilla Ballou wrote:
Thanks to *everybody* who answered me! We called it snake grass when we
were kids, but I didn't realize it was the real name. I found no
commercial vendors who carried it, but several folks on eBay were
offering plants, so I put in a bid. I'm planning to put it in a new
raised bed, so I'm not as worried about its invasiveness, since I can
control spread so much easier in raised bed.

Do yourself a favor, and put it in a pot, raised above the ground several
inches, or set on concrete. Equisetum is rhizomatous, and spreads nicely,
and regenerates from broken bits of rhizomes. If you remember a ditch
or field full of Equisetum -- well, that was probably all one plant.
It will "run" a fair distance and pop up again.

Field horsetail, for instance, has been found to run 300+ ft horizontally
and 20 ft deep. It's also toxic to a number of livestock species, including
horses, sheep and cattle (google "equisetosis"), and can inhibit growth of
other plants.

Much as I think Equisetums are really cool plants*, I wouldn't give them a
chance to spread. You'll still have spores as a potential source of new
plants spreading around, but the "preferred" method for most species
seems to be vegetatively. Equisetums are difficult to control culturally or
with chemicals once established, so be watchful.
*Once you have some spores, let them get very dry, and shake some onto
paper. Look at them with a handlens, and breathe on them gently-- you
can watch the elaters --wings-- uncoil from a "deathstar" configuration
to fully spread.

Kay Lancaster

ps: Equisetum scirpoides, a miniature species, will grow nicely as a
houseplant in a south window, if that would suffice for you.