I like this stuff, but what is it?

[Stephen T.]

This grows wild in the Wood River Wetlands, here in central Oregon, zone 4. It is on the edge, submerged about 1/2 the time, buried in snow and ice for 4 months or so. It isn't in my Wetland Plants of Oregon & Washington, or my Common Plants of the Klamath Basin books. It grows about 12" tall and is on the edge of cattails. Each plant is like a fir tree branch, although fairly soft feeling. I moved some into by bog and it's doing well, but it would be nice to know that the heck it is!

I can get a close-up of the plant in my bog tomorrow.

 

[Mmathis]

Mare's tail?

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Appears to be a specie of Hipperus.

Hipperus vulgaris

 

[addy1]

Neat looking plant!

 

[morewater]

It's Mare's Tail.

It's easy, easy, easy to grow..........it doesn't require a pot or a substrate............just stick it where you want it to grow, in between rocks, in driftwood, wherever.

Neat stuff, stands upright, not floppy.

 

[Stephen T.]

Thanks!

All our books on plants of the Pacific Northwest and only one has it. It shows its range as coastal, not inland, no wonder I couldn't find it! It is quite attractive and I'm glad (so far) I found some. I brought a small amount back in my camera backpack, while out birding.

 

[DeepWater]

Looks very similar to Equisetum, I wondered if they were related, but Wikipedia lists this in the description of Equisetum: "A superficially similar but entirely unrelated flowering plant genus, mare's tail (Hippuris), is occasionally referred to as "horsetail", and adding to confusion, the name mare's tail is sometimes applied to Equisetum."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equisetum

 

[Stephen T.]

Now if only I could keep my pond really cold, I could have Mare's Tails and Mare's Eggs! What are Mare's Egg's you ask?

Mare's Eggs (Nostoc pruniforme) is a form of blue-green algae that forms colonies of small cells which form gelatinous spheres of various sizes. They only survive in clear, cold water between 38 and 42 year round. Here in Klamath County, Oregon, they form in several spring fed streams and ponds. Most are greenish brown and between golf ball and soft ball size. Some of the colonies stretch for 50'x200' on the sandy bottom of spring creek. They are a bit slippery on the surface, but are hollow leathery balls.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Now if only I could keep my pond really cold, I could have Mare's Tails and Mare's Eggs! What are Mare's Egg's you ask?

Mare's Eggs (Nostoc pruniforme) is a form of blue-green algae that forms colonies of small cells which form gelatinous spheres of various sizes. They only survive in clear, cold water between 38 and 42 year round. Here in Klamath County, Oregon, they form in several spring fed streams and ponds. Most are greenish brown and between golf ball and soft ball size. Some of the colonies stretch for 50'x200' on the sandy bottom of spring creek. They are a bit slippery on the surface, but are hollow leathery balls.

View attachment 95244

Nostoc is one cool algae! I wish it could grow here in the South.

 

[j.w]

I found some Mare's tail growing in a ditch while camping up near Birch Bay near the Canadian border. Stuck it in some 100% clay kitty litter and put it in my bathtub pond where it is growing nicely. Next time I go which prolly won't be tell next Summer I will try and get some more. I'll keep my eyes open looking for it while out walking around here also.

 

[Stephen T.]

Here's one of the little mares tails I brought home. 3 weeks ago, the larger one was an inch high and the smaller one, just a nub. Now the larger is about 5" tall. I'm going to have to get some more, maybe tomorrow morning.

 

[bluzervic]

Hmmm, I want some... Wonder if I can find it locally.

 

[Stephen T.]

Obviously it can handle cold weather, seeing as we see some -20 to -30 weather every few years and it grows wild here. It got down to 22 a couple nights ago and I was curious to see how mine came through. Other than growing quite a bit since it transplanted it, it looks no different!