Klarinet Archive - Posting 000459.txt from 1997/04

From: "L. BORCHERT" <lborcher@-----.edu>
Subj: RE: What's Dutch rush look like?
Date: Thu, 17 Apr 1997 08:59:26 -0400

On Sun, 13 Apr 1997, Lord Rob wrote:

> I'll try and describe it, though describing plants is not my forte. Dutch
> rush is a green, tubelike plant with slightly raised venation. It is these
> prominent veins that give it its distinctive sandpaper-like texture. I have
> no idea, though, how tall it grows, or what sort of habitat it lives in, so
> hopefully some of the Biology professors on this list can be of more help...
>
> Rob Teitelbaum
> Claremont McKenna College
>
>

There was a form of this plant in some of the mountain areas
around my hometown of Havre, MT (Yes, more grows there than dental floss
bushes for you Frank Zappa fans). The common name was "horsetails" and
they were about two feet high, growing in wet, sandy soil usually by some
water source. I couldn't get them to work quite as well as the commercial
stuff and eventually went back to 600 wet or dry sandpaper.