i didn’t intend to revisit my engineering roots again today, but i found my first horsetail shoots of the season yesterday afternoon, alongside sucker creek, and aside from the fact that this newly emergent specimen looks like something designed by the engineers at nasa, i will never forget the thrill of learning that horsetail’s hyperregular growth pattern may have been what first inspired john napier’s discovery of logarithms back in the 1600s. in fact, this telescoping stem would make a great pattern for a solid rocket booster. hmm. i still know some guys at nasa…

horsetail

sucker lake trail, saint paul, minnesota