Well they are fairly common (seen them around here too), although they do look a little strange. What amazes me from the Wikipedia article: "People have regular

Well they are fairly common (seen them around here too), although they do look a little strange. What amazes me from the Wikipedia article: "People have regularly consumed horsetails. For example, the fertile stems bearing strobili of some species are cooked and eaten like asparagus(a dish called tsukushi in Japan)." If something is edible, people will probably have identified and eaten it. I suspect this didn't happen in the modern period of 'consumer culture', just for the taste and thrills but likely during the numerous periods of famine in history. Like grasspea ( "Lathyrus sativus", https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lathyrus_sativus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lathyrus_sativus ), sort of a bean which strangely, can be eaten a few times to fend off starvation but "The crop is harmless to humans in small quantities, but eating it as a major part of the diet over a three-month period can cause permanent paralysis below the knees in adults and brain damage in children, a disorder known as lathyrism." Imagine having nothing to eat but grasspea, each day telling yourself: "Last time, tomorrow I'll have a nice loaf of bread with steak". Only to resort to grasspeas again, each day closer to the point of no return.