Equisetum+hyemale

=//Equisetum Hyemale//= =( Scouringrush Horsetail )=



Several sources cited by Wikipedia identify several traditional uses of the plant:
The rough bristles have been used to scour or clean pots, used as sandpaper, as well as to shape the reeds of reed instruments such as clarinets or saxophones.[|[][|2][|]][|[][|3][|]] Boiled and dried //Equisetum hyemale// is used as traditional polishing material like fine grit [|sandpaper] in Japan. Some [|Plateau Indian] tribes boiled the stalks to produce a drink used as a [|diuretic] and to treat [|venereal disease]. [|[][|4][|]]

regarding its invasive behavior:
"Once it is in the ground, there is no way to control it. Snake grass spreads from a single underground rhizome. In other words, all the plants are connected. You cannot pull it out by the roots because they go down in the ground as far as a metre”, says a landscaper. “It will take over any garden or lawn.

The root system goes straight down and then spreads horizontally. “I've seen infestations where plants as far as 15m apart were connected underground”, says a landscaper.

When the plant is broken (if you attempt to pull it out) it then splits and branches out from that spot. An ability to grow from prunings also means that snake grass easily ‘jumps out of a garden container’ – usually within 24 months of planting."