When you hang out with a botanist you often learn something interesting. Near the Crabpot (where we got some fish for dinner) these plants were growing, Equisetum, common name horse tails or scouring rush (so named by the pioneers who used the brushy part of the plant to scour out pots and pans as it contains silica). These were some of the very first plants on earth, dating back to the Carboniferous Era some 350 million years ago. These plants predate the dinosaurs and originally grew to be very large in the warm and wet conditions. There were huge forests of such carboniferous plants which became the organic matter which, through pressure over millions of years, become oil!! Voila!!!!
The view on the top is the reproductive part of the plant called the strobilus. The formation at the top mimics a cone but these plants predate the coniferous plants and reproduce not by seeds, but by spores (each head containing billions of spores which are so fine they were at one time collected and used to polish telescopic lenses.) As the planet got hot and dry, the conditions favored the conifers and equisetum became small in stature. The plant still favors wet and warm conditions and often grows along the highways.
This message brought to you via Sharon Rose!!
On The Way 
The photographs are lovely – those reproductive parts sure are beautiful. Nice text too!
Why thank you Sharon–I’m sticking with you!!