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  • From: Chad Knepp <pyg@galatea.org>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [NAFEX] Re: horseweed
  • Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2004 12:05:57 -0600

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"'



  • [NAFEX] Re: horseweed, Chad Knepp, 03/16/2004

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