Here’s something new. Perhaps it wasn’t new, we just couldn’t see it before, because it was covered up by so many invasives. I found it growing in a damp area, where phragmites had been, where I had spread seed heads of cattails, and some had actually grown. This is beneath where the willow was, on the E side of the slope.
I think it’s Equisetum arvense. It’s native; some people consider it a weed. It’s supposedly hard to get rid of. Go Botany says it’s an “important component of the spring and early summer diet of black bears.” I guess I should be proud that our ecosystem appears capable of supporting a black bear…but I think I’ll pull most of this. Anything that comes up in a great number, I’m a bit suspicious of, but I’m hesitant to get rid of all of it, just in case it’s important for something.
