In article ,
Rusty Hinge wrote:
Stewart Robert Hinsley wrote:
In message , Derek Turner
writes
On Wed, 03 Mar 2010 01:03:31 -0600, seeker wrote:

Any cures for marestail weed ?

AIUI marestail (Hippuris vulgaris) is aquatic. Do you mean horsetail
(Equisetum)?

He does mean horsetail (Equisetum). However, marestail is used for at
least three plants (the 3rd is Canadian fleabane), and the use for
Equisetum is widespread.

Yes, but totally incorrectly. (Just as glasswort is widely called
'samphire', ramsons are called 'wild garlic', and pelargoniums are
called 'geraniums'.)

Even in ye olden dayes when I was a lad, people thought glasswort was
called samphire. Fortunately, I was correted (1953) by someone who
showed me what samphire really looked like. (Yum! If anything, it's
better thn glasswort, which I adore too...)

Not at all. The English language is defined by its users, and not
by a any official body. In particular, the self-selected and
dogmatic English botanists who tried to define 'official' English
names can get knotted. They even tried to claim that bluebell
was a synonym for Campanula rotundifolia!

In particular, some names specify multiple species simultaneously,
others vary with location, some specify varieties or subspecies,
and some overlap those. English is imprecise. Live with it.
Marestail and samphire are fine. If you want to be specifically
precise, use the proper language, which is Latin.

Regards,
Nick Maclaren.