Field horsetail

Family Equisetaceae. Vernacular names: broom, cat's tail, horse-tail, mop-grass, tin grass.

Parts used: herb. Pharmacopoeial name: horsetail herb - Equiseti herba (ранее: Неrbа Equiseti).

Botanical description. Early in spring, brownish unbranched shoots with terminal spore-bearing cones emerge from the long, branched rhizome. After several weeks sterile green stems appear, reaching 20 - 30 cm in height and bearing whorled lateral branches. These green shoots are the medicinal raw material known as horsetail. In other, poisonous species of horsetails, unlike the field horsetail, the spore-bearing cones are located at the tips of the sterile shoots and remain clearly visible until early summer.

Flavonoids together with saponins act as a diuretic. Nevertheless, one should not rely solely on horsetail for urinary retention and water elimination. Far more important is its beneficial effect on connective tissue: as a tea or bath additive it significantly increases the body's resistance. This is mainly due to the action of silicic acid, much of which is extracted into the infusion when preparing the tea. The optimal result is achieved by the combined action of the three aforementioned chemical components. Therefore field horsetail is successfully used in the following cases: for baths that stimulate skin metabolism and act well in circulatory disorders, for swelling from fractures, for frostbite, abscesses and bone suppuration (in open fractures). Since soluble silicic acid is partially absorbed through the skin during bathing, horsetail baths alleviate the condition in most rheumatic diseases and metabolic disorders in gout.

Bath with field horsetail: Infuse 100 g of herb in hot water for one hour; add the resulting infusion to a filled bathtub. Ready-made extracts are also used.

Use in homeopathy. The homeopathic remedy Equisetum hyemale is not prepared from field horsetail, but from the fresh sterile stems of the winter horsetail (Equisetum hyemale L.), which grows in Europe and North America. Its chemical composition and action differ little from that of field horsetail. Homeopathy uses the mother tincture to enhance the elimination of water from the body.

For kidney and bladder diseases (colic and stones), for bladder irritation and nocturnal enuresis this remedy is prescribed in dilutions from D2 to D6. It is taken several times a day in doses of 5 to 15 drops.

Use in traditional medicine. In folk medicine, tea from field horsetail is used for pulmonary diseases, rheumatism and gout, for rinsing the mouth and throat, as poultices on poorly healing wounds and for urinary system diseases. The method of preparing the tea is described above.

Field horsetail does not cause side effects.

based on materials from the website www.medicina.kharkov.ua