English name: Common horsetail
Family: Equisetaceae
Botanical characteristic: A perennial herb 5 – 50 cm tall, with a creeping, branching ground from which two types of stems grow. Barren, summer, green herbs are densely branched and have whorl-like branches and an unbranched top. Fertile, unbranched, reddish-brown bolls appear in spring and are topped by a brown cob of spore leaves. Spores ripen in March and April.
Microscopic drawing:
Distribution: It grows in wet meadows, fields, along roads, on banks.
Drug: Equiseti herba
Harvesting method: Barren green flowering clematis is harvested with garden shears.
Drying: Horsetail is dried naturally in a thin layer, in an airy and shady place. Artificially in a drying room, where the temperature must not exceed 40 °C.
Active substances: Horsetail contains a large amount of flavonoids and caffeic acid derivatives. The high proportion of mineral substances (up to around 10 %) is interesting, of which the soluble proportion of silicic acid with diuretic effects is therapeutically significant. We also find traces of alkaloids in the drug, especially nicotine.
Uses: Horsetail is used as a very effective diuretic to eliminate swelling or to “flush” the urinary tract in case of urinary infections or urinary stones.
Traditional method of use in indications determined solely on the basis of long-term use:
– increase in the formation and excretion of urine, supportive treatment of urinary tract diseases,
– supportive treatment of superficial injuries.
Selected herbal preparations: AGROKARPATY Horsetail sage herb tea 1×30 g, APOTHEKE Horsetail sage sage sage sage sack 20×1,5 g, AGROKARPATY UROLOGICAL carob herbal tea 20×2 g, Dr.Max Urological herbal mixture with cranberries infusion bags 20×1,5 g, FYTO Herbal mixture for increased uric acid 20×1,25 g, J.V. NEFRI drops for kidney function 50 ml, BIODREN R drops 50 ml, CLINICAL HAIR-CARE cps 60 pcs, Collagenceutical cps 60 pcs, DonnaHAIR Forte cps 30 pcs, FYTO NEPHROSAL + Cranberry for urinary tract 30 pcs.