In article ,
Stewart Robert Hinsley writes:
| In message , Sacha
| quotes
| I've been contacted by Mr Charles Bailey who points out that Horestail
| is correctly applied to the weed growing on land whereas Marestail is
| correctly applied to the weed growing in water.
|
| Mare's tail, Hippuris vulgaris, is an aquatic flowering plant, with
| reduced flowers (perhaps water-pollinated) belonging to family
| Haloragaceae. Apart from the water-milfoils, which belong to the same
| family, current opinion is that its nearest relatives in the British
| Flora are the stonecrops (Sedum), pigmyweeds (Crassula) and navelwort
| (Umbilicus).
|
| Horsetail, sometimes called Mare's tail, Equisetum sp, are non-flowering
| plants, and are probably modified ferns.

It appears that the reason that mare's tail is called that is that it
was once felt to be the female form of horsetail by botanists, as they
never found flowers or seeds on the latter. But that was a quite a
long time ago ....

Anyway, Equisetum species have been called horsetails or marestails
according to the whim of the speaker for centuries. Mr Charles Bailey
is wrong.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.