I remain pretty confused about identifying the varities of equisetum. As far as I can determing, both Hymale and Arvense appear in BOTH forms, the bush 'pine tree' and the leaveless 'snake grass' or 'joint-grass.' Chadwick says that arvense is the only equisetum that has joints that end with a brown edge. Photos of hymale on the web show it to have a brown edge to the segments.At 12:03 PM 10/11/2002 -0400, Sharon wrote:Hymale is the naked stem we call "joint-grass". It has no leaves and the spore cone is on the end of the stalk. So it's pretty different. Of course, I don't really know how different the various members of the equisetum family might be for prep making. All have high silica and sort of micro-teeth like scales in their outer surface. Which is why they were used as "scouring rush".Equisetium arvense is the recommended one for biodynamics, we had the other hymale growing in our garden and did an experiment, with fermenting it. The hymale did not have the strong potent smell as does the arvense, although it is similar. it seems worth the trouble to get the arvense to me. :)Sharon
There is a good pictorial on arvense (albeit in Spanish) at http://www.uniovi.es/UniOvi/Apartados/Departamento/Biologia.Organismos/Asignaturas/Botanica/Imagenes/Equisetum%20arvense%20(Sphenophyta).JPG
I've yet to brew a stinky pot of equesetum this summer. Given Sharon's remarks, I suppose I should change suppliers and start again -OR- locate arvense locally.
Any more suggestions on identification? -Allan
