What type of plant is this?

November 17, 2016 8:54 AM

Originally saw these plants on Fox’s Son of Zorn (pretty good show with lots of potential). Looks like asparagus or bamboo. Link.
posted by EightballBill to Home & Garden (8 answers total)

They look like horsetails to me.
posted by answergrape at 9:01 AM on November 17, 2016

What episode is that from?
posted by FallowKing at 9:01 AM on November 17, 2016

A Google image search for 'horsetail screen' seems to throw up a lot of things that look similar, so that's where my vote goes.
posted by pipeski at 9:32 AM on November 17, 2016

Certainly horsetails.
posted by purpleclover at 9:54 AM on November 17, 2016

Thanks! We love the look-unusual for our area so we're going to give it a try. Not sure which episode this pic was from but it's been included in at least two that I noticed.
posted by EightballBill at 8:05 PM on November 17, 2016

It can spread everywhere, best planted in a container or some other root containment system. Also, don't compost the trimmings unless you want your compost heap to be replaced by horsetail mountain. It's a living fossil for good reason.
posted by jamaro at 11:20 PM on November 17, 2016

Horsetail spreads rapidly and can resprout from the tiniest pieces of root. It is highly resistant to chemical weedkiller. I second the suggestion to plant it in a container, but if you plant it in a container with drainage holes that is set directly on dirt, it will spread.

Source: I spent a lot of chore time as a kid working on horsetail in the Pacific Northwest.
posted by catlet at 3:39 AM on November 18, 2016

I also want to throw in a warning about how invasive horsetail is. Please plant it in a container. In addition, if you're doing a lot of pruning, thinning, or touching it, wear gloves; the plant is covered with silica (aka, glass), which can scrape your hands up pretty badly.
posted by purpleclover at 1:24 PM on November 18, 2016