[NAFEX] Re: horseweed

Chad Knepp pyg at galatea.org
Tue Mar 16 13:05:57 EST 2004


So I did a little looking around to try and unravel which plant we are
talking about re: 'horseweed'.  I did a search for 'horse' and got the
following:


Family		 Genus species		Common name
----------------------------------------------------------
Labiatae         Monarda punctata       Horse mint              
Amaranthaceae    Achyranthes aspera     Devil's horsewhip       
Equisetaceae     Equisetum arvense      Field horsetail        
Equisetaceae     Equisetum fluviatile   Swamp horsetail         
Equisetaceae     Equisetum palustre     Marsh horsetail         
Equisetaceae     Equisetum pratense     Meadow horsetail        
Equisetaceae     Equisetum sylvaticum   Wood horsetail          
Equisetaceae     Equisetum telmateia    Giant horsetail         
Equisetaceae     Equisetum variegatum   Variegated horsetail    
Labiatae         Mentha longifolia      Horsemint               
Smilacaceae      Smilax rotundifolia    Horse brier             
Solanaceae       Solanum carolinense    Horse nettle            
Leguminosae      Vicia faba equina      Horsebean               


Also some 'jimson weeds':

Family		 Genus species		Common name
----------------------------------------------------------
Solanaceae	 Datura inoxia		Downy thorn apple   
Solanaceae	 Datura metel		Thorn apple         
Solanaceae	 Datura quercifolia	Oak leaf datura     
Solanaceae	 Datura stramonium	Thornapple          


'Tomato' is of course:

Family		 Genus species		 Common name
----------------------------------------------------------
Solanaceae	 Lycopersicon esculentum Tomato           


My [best] guess is that the 'horseweed' in question here is at least
in the Solanaceae family and probably Solanum carolinense (horse
nettle) as someone else suggested although it could be a Datura.  I
seriously doubt that it is an Equisetum.  The horsetails are an
incredibly primitive fern-like plant that I doubt would be a
compatible root stock.  The 'horse briar', Smilax rotundifolia, is an
unknown quantity.

Solanum carolinense is also a TOXIC plant and I would question
edibility with the same level of concern expressed for Daturas.

More on 'horse nettle': <http://galatea.org/cgi-bin/eden?plant=6461>
More on 'jimson weed': <http://galatea.org/cgi-bin/eden?plant=2282>


-- 
Chad Knepp
perl -e 'print pack"H*","7079674067616c617465612e6f72670a"'



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