Equisetaceae Equisetum arvense L.

Field Horsetail

Hesquiat - Food, Vegetable

Use documented by:
Turner, Nancy J. and Barbara S. Efrat, 1982, Ethnobotany of the Hesquiat Indians of Vancouver Island, Victoria. British Columbia Provincial Museum, page 28

View all documented uses for Equisetum arvense L.

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Scientific name: Equisetum arvense L.
USDA symbol: EQAR (View details at USDA PLANTS site)
Common names: Field Horsetail
Family: Equisetaceae
Family (APG):
Native American Tribe: Hesquiat
Use category: Food
Use sub-category: Vegetable
Notes: Tender, young, vegetative shoots peeled and eaten raw. These shoots are green but have not yet branched out, and the segments are still very close together. The leaf sheaths were peeled off two at a time and the succulent stems eaten raw. They were 'nothing but juice.' The Hesquiat people travelled up towards Esteven Point especially to get these shoots, and sometimes they would collect 20 or more kilograms of them at a time. When they returned home, the harvesters would call together all their relatives and friends and have a feast of horsetail shoots. The white, fertile shoots were apparently not eaten, although they are in other areas of the Northwest Coast.

RECRD: 490 id: 13301

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