horsetail, popular names are polov’s pine, needles, spindlingweed, ppictka, tinichki, luskavets, padivolos, creak.
Horsetail family – Equisetaceae.
The herb is used for medicinal purposes.
It occurs almost throughout Ukraine, in significant numbers in the forest and in the north of the forest-steppe regions, less often in the south of the Forest-steppe, and in the Steppe – only along river valleys and wet beams. It grows as a weed in fields and gardens, roadsides, meadows, near ditches, along rivers, lakes and ponds, treeless sands, sparse forests and shrubs, traditionally in places with high humidity. The presence of horsetail traditionally indicates an acidic soil. In some places it forms thickets on tens and even hundreds of hectares.
It is advisable to produce industrial blanks in Polissya and in the north of the Forest-Steppe.
Stocks of raw materials are large, hundreds of tons of grass can be harvested annually. In the future, due to the drainage of excessively moistened lands and the increase in agricultural culture, the reserves will gradually decrease.
Average annual harvesting of horsetail grass in the republic in 1974-1976 amounted to 59
Horsetail is a perennial herbaceous plant. Rhizomes are blackish, branched, with rounded nodules. Almost colorless (sometimes brownish), juicy, unbranched stems up to 20 cm tall grow in spring, with bell-shaped sheaths having 8-9 brown teeth. The stems end in spore-bearing spikelets. After maturation and rash of spores (in May), these stems die off, and they are replaced by summer (sterile), green, up to 30-40 cm high, segmented, hollow stems.
Inexperienced collectors can collect other types of horsetail instead of horsetail, which are found in Ukraine, but have no medicinal value. A number of external signs make it possible to distinguish them.
Grass is harvested in the summer (June-August), plucking or cutting it with sickles or knives, and when standing thickly, they mow it with scythes without coarser ground parts. Before drying, impurities of other plants are selected, including non-medicinal species of horsetail, which are difficult to distinguish after drying.
Dry the grass in attics under an iron roof or under sheds with good ventilation, spreading a layer of 5-7 cm on paper or cloth. The yield of dry raw materials is 20-25%.
According to GF-IX Art. 231, GOST 14143-69 raw material consists of gray-green, furrowed, segmented stems up to 30 cm long with branches. The smell is weak, peculiar. The taste is sour. Humidity is not higher than 13%. In raw materials, no more than (percent) is allowed: crushed parts (less than 1 cm) – 10, other parts of horsetail – 1, organic impurities – 1, inorganic impurities – 0.5, other types of horsetails – 4.
The total ash content must not exceed 24%.
Dry grass is packed, pressed, in bales or bales weighing 50 kg. Store in a dry, well-ventilated area. With an increase in humidity to 5-16%, the raw material self-heats and acquires an unnatural smell. Storage period up to 4 years. Re-control is not performed.
The herb contains silicic acid (25%), alkaloids (nicotine, equisetin), flavonoids (equisetrip, isoquercetin), organic acids, bitterness, resins, carotene, vitamin C.
It is used as a diuretic for heart and other diseases accompanied by congestion, and as a hemostatic agent for hemorrhoids and uterine bleeding in the form of an infusion and liquid extract. Included in the diuretic fees.