pewterwortn.

1597 J. Gerard Herball ii. 958 Italian rushie Horse taile... Women..scowre their pewter and wooden things of the kitchen therewith,..and thereupon some of our huswiues do call it Pewterwoort.

1657 W. Coles Adam in Eden xxxiii. 69 The rougher kind hereof, called in English Shave~grass,..hath been by some of them called Pewterwort.

1796 W. Withering Arrangem. Brit. Plants (ed. 3) III. 756 Equisetum hyemale... Rough Horsetail. Shavegrass. Pewterwort.

1855 G. Emerson Farmer's & Planter's Encycl. Rural Affairs (new ed.) 646/2 Greater rough horsetail. Shave-grass pewterwort (E. hyemale). This species is found in boggy woods, but not very common.

1883 Longman's Mag. June 195 Beneath where the ponds are bushy marestails grow, and on the moist banks jointed pewterwort.

1901 A. Austin Alfred the Great iii. iv. 75 With pewterwort she burnishes the pans.

1996 R. Mabey Flora Britannica 13/2 The rough horsetail or Dutch rush, E. hyemale, is the most strikingly rough species and, before the days of steel wool, was used for scouring pans—hence the early names of pewterwort and scrubby-grass.