Horsetail, wonder plant
Horsetail, is a grassy plant with two kinds of stems, some brown, fertile that appear in spring, finished with a sporefer spic, others greenish-open, sterile and that appear in early summer. The leaves are reduced to small scales with the edge of the tooth. The horse’s tail has a dark, 2-3 cm long rhizome in the ground, branched and with tubers. We use the aerial part of the plant, which we can harvest from July to September.
Therapeutic remedies with horsetail
Horsetail (Herba Equiseti) contains active principles: saponositis, flavonoids, vegetable sterols, volatile oil, potassium salts, calcium, sodium, magnesium, bitter substances and silicon compounds. The plant has remineralizing properties, with diuretic, anti-inflammatory action, of increasing the resistance of connective tissue, antiseptic and decreasing gastric acidity.
Horsetail is an excellent therapeutic remedy in the case of digestive diseases (gastric ulcer and acidity), kidney, bladder, gout, rheumatism, neuralgia, internal bleeding, hives, eczema, purulent inflammation, varicose ulcer, cancerous ulcers. It has hemostatic, vitaminizing and remineralizing effects.
How we use the horse’s tail plant
Internally,the herb is recommended for convalescents and people suffering from anemia, administered as a powder, 1-2 g/day. Some researchers recommend cold plant maceration as having a higher diuretic effect. You can also prepare a decoction from a teaspoon of the plant, to a cup of water. Boil for 10-15 minutes and then strain, and the liquid can sweeten. Drink lukewarm, 3-4 cups a day.
Externally,it is used in the form of poultices or local baths. Horsetail tincture is a particularly good remedy for sweating feet. After washing the feet, we dry them thoroughly and rub them with this tincture. In addition, a cup of tea from this plant should be drunk daily in the morning on an empty stomach, half an hour before breakfast. Equally effective are the infusion foot baths of this plant.
Infusion of the horse’s tail, it is recommended as gargle water in tonsillitis, ulcerative stomatitis, bleeding of the gum and gingivitis, inflammation of the oral mucosa, butts and polyps in the palate and throat.
For serious kidney diseases, accompanied by their side effects, sitting baths with fresh horse tail are recommended. To 5 liters of cold water, we add 200 g dry plant and leave it overnight to macerate. The next day, the amount of macerate heats up, and the extract is poured into the bath water, which must reach above the kidneys. Let the heart be above the water. The bath time is 20 minutes. After the bath the body does not wipe but wraps in a robe to sweat for about an hour.
Precautions. The horse’s tail has many related species. The species Equisetum Palustre should be mentioned because of its toxic potential. This plant contains a toxic alkaloid called palastroin. Toxic species is recognized as follows: smooth surface of the stem and bare branches on the inside.
