horsetail

Equisetum arvense L.

Хвощ полевой Хвощ полевой Хвощ полевой

Botanical characteristics. Family horsetail. Perennial spore plant. It has a double stem: sporiferous and vegetative. Sporebranch unbranched stems up to 20 - 30 cm high appear early in the spring immediately after melting snow. After the ripening of the sporiferous spike, the stem dies. Instead, soon grows a vegetative stem - a hard, knotty, green, reminiscent of a small fir tree, 30-60 cm high. Disputes ripen in April-May.

Spread. It grows on the whole territory of our country, except the Far North, meets in the meadows, along the banks of rivers and lakes, in wastelands and fields.

Used parts of the plant. Vegetative branchy shoots (grass).
In the grass of the horsetail, silicic acid (up to 2.5%), tannins, bitterness, tar, acids (aconite, oxalic, malic), saponin equisetin, flavonoids (equesetrin, lyuteolin-7-glycoside), isokvetsitrin, luteolin, kaempferol -7-diglycoside), carotene, ascorbic acid (up to 190 mg%), traces of alkaloids, sitosterol and dimethylsulfate.

Application. The horsetum has anti-inflammatory, disinfectant, diuretic, hemostatic, cardiotonic, restorative, wound-healing and astringent action.
Horsetail facilitates the normalization of water-salt metabolism, elimination of cholesterol, various toxic substances, slags. Thus, for example, it accelerates the excretion of lead in an experiment from the animal organism.
The plant is added to the collection in the treatment of hypertension, atherosclerosis, gout and poorly healing wounds. The most common horsetail in folk and scientific medicine as a diuretic and anti-inflammatory agent in diseases of the kidneys and bladder, swelling of various etiologies, as well as exudative pleurisy.
Horsetail grass is used for rheumatism, cholelithiasis and nephrolithiasis, with eye diseases, with neoplasms of the stomach and intestines, as a good hemostatic agent for various internal and external bleeding.
Preparations from the plant are prescribed and as an external agent: for the treatment of chronic ulcers and fistulas, wounds, for syringing with whites, for foot baths with sweating and for washing the head with seborrhea.
Horsetail is a part of diuretic teas.

Contraindications. For diseases accompanied by severe lesions of the renal parenchyma (nephritis and nephrosis), horsetail extract should be used with caution, since silicic acid and some other substances contained in it are irritating.

Preparation. Infusion: 1-2 tablespoons are insisted with 2 cups of boiling water (daily intake dose).
Infusion for external use is prepared from the calculation of 4 - 5 spoons of herbs for 2 cups of boiling water.
In the pharmacy, the herb horsetail is sold, it is available in the form of briquettes (1-1 / 2 slices of the briquette is poured into a glass of cold water, boiled for 3 minutes, cooled, filtered, taken 1 tablespoon 3 to 4 times a day). Granules of herb horsetail (1 tablespoon) pour a glass of hot water and boil, cover with a lid, on low heat for 3 minutes, then filter. Take 1 tablespoon 3 - 4 times a day.
Homeopathic Equisetum 3x, 3 is a urological remedy and by action on the kidneys and bladder is reminiscent of Cantaris. Effective in acute and chronic pyelonephritis, cystitis, as well as incontinence. A characteristic symptom: there is a lot of mucus in the urine, pain in the bladder is strong and does not weaken after urination.