Strange plant/weed/fungus in garden

Hello, first post so please excuse me if i'm posting in the wrong forum.

I have just moved into a new house with my wife and daughters, we have a nice garden but its been a bit neglected over the years by the previous owner and whilst going over it my wife noticed we have an abundance of a strange plant that we dont recognise. It looks a bit mushroom like but its 'cap' is hard, and when mowing the lawn my wife said that it looked like it emited smoke or spores.

One of our main worries is for our young daughter who will be starting to use the garden in the summer and we want to know what this plant is, if its dangerous and how to get rid of it. Any help identifying it will be most appreciated.

Here are a couple of pictures I took of this mystery

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Reply to
HytestA
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Yes, it is emitting spores. Equisetum (horsetail, scouring rush) are plants that reproduce by spores rather than seeds. They are often referred to as 'living fossils' as they were the dominant type of land-plant hundreds of millions of years ago.

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One of our main worries is for our young daughter who will be starting

It's not particularly dangerous for humans, though it can be toxic to sheep and horses as a contaminant in hay.

The 'getting rid of it' is going to be very hard. The underground part of the plant is wiry and tenacious and herbicides like Roundup not particularly effective (it helps to bruise the horsetails before spraying).

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Reply to
Pat Kiewicz

Thank you Pat for your help, looks like im going to have fun removing this :(

Reply to
HytestA

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