Horsetail (Equisetum arvense L.)

Horsetail is a perennial herbaceous plant belonging to the horsetail family (Equisetinae). Other names: sosonka, needles, Christmas tree, peanuts.

Description:

Perennial spore herbaceous plant with a longish, creeping, branched brownish-black rhizome with spherical nodules. The stems are articulate with serrated leaf sheaths at the nodes, of two kinds: yellowish-brown in spring, short, juicy, unbranched, ending in an oval-cylindrical spore-bearing spikelet, found early in spring and die off after maturation of the spores. Summer fruitless shoots develop later, they are green, hollow, with 6-8 ribs in the upper part of the stem; very small blunt tubercles are visible on the ribs (under a magnifying glass). Leaf sheaths are narrowly annulated, greenish, to the top with triangular wide, soldered by 2-3, black teeth with a white border. The branches are simple, directed obliquely upwards, sometimes weakly branched at the bottom of the stem, with 4-5 deep grooves, non-hollow, located along the entire length of the stem in whorls. The leaves are underdeveloped and turned into tubular sheaths. The teeth of the sheaths are green, pointed, bent. It grows everywhere: in shrubs, like a weed in meadows, in crops, in fallow fields, along roads, on the slopes of railway tracks. In other species of horsetail, spore-bearing stems continue to grow, turning into long green branched shoots, bearing wrinkled spore spikelets at the tops, later crumbling. Species similar to field horsetail: forest horsetail – Equisetum silvaticum L. Green stems with longish branched arcuate downwards deviated, secondary branching branches. The vagina is large. On the ribs in the upper part of the stem there are sharp spines arranged in 2 rows (under a magnifying glass). Meadow horsetail – Equisetum pratense Ehrh. Branches simple, horizontal, located mainly in the upper part, trihedral. The teeth of the leaf sheaths on the stem are brown, narrow, white-skinned along the edges. On the ribs in the upper part of the stems there are cone-shaped papillae (under a magnifying glass). Marsh horsetail – Equisetum palustre L. In appearance it is very similar to the field horsetail, but differs from it in that the first segments of the base of the branches are black; the branches are hollow, the teeth of the sheaths have a black border. The ribs of the stem are wrinkled in the transverse direction (under a magnifying glass). Stems and branches often end in spore-bearing spikelets. Sheaths with 2-7 lanceolate, unfused teeth, rhizomes without nodules. Marsh horsetail – Equisetum fluviatile L. The stem is much thicker, within 0.5 cm in diameter, the branches are short or completely absent, the ribs are smooth, slightly protruding, 15-20 teeth. The teeth of the leaf sheaths on the stem are brown, narrow, white-skinned along the edges. On the ribs in the upper part of the stems there are cone-shaped papillae (under a magnifying glass). Marsh horsetail – Equisetum palustre L. In appearance it is very similar to the field horsetail, but differs from it in that the first segments of the base of the branches are black; the branches are hollow, the teeth of the sheaths have a black border. The ribs of the stem are wrinkled in the transverse direction (under a magnifying glass). Stems and branches often end in spore-bearing spikelets. Sheaths with 2-7 lanceolate, unfused teeth, rhizomes without nodules. Marsh horsetail – Equisetum fluviatile L. The stem is much thicker, within 0.5 cm in diameter, the branches are short or completely absent, the ribs are smooth, slightly protruding, 15-20 teeth. The teeth of the leaf sheaths on the stem are brown, narrow, white-skinned along the edges. On the ribs in the upper part of the stems there are cone-shaped papillae (under a magnifying glass). Marsh horsetail – Equisetum palustre L. In appearance it is very similar to the field horsetail, but differs from it in that the first segments of the base of the branches are black; the branches are hollow, the teeth of the sheaths have a black border. The ribs of the stem are wrinkled in the transverse direction (under a magnifying glass). Stems and branches often end in spore-bearing spikelets. Sheaths with 2-7 lanceolate, unfused teeth, rhizomes without nodules. Marsh horsetail – Equisetum fluviatile L. The stem is much thicker, within 0.5 cm in diameter, the branches are short or completely absent, the ribs are smooth, slightly protruding, 15-20 teeth. On the ribs in the upper part of the stems there are cone-shaped papillae (under a magnifying glass). Marsh horsetail – Equisetum palustre L. In appearance it is very similar to the field horsetail, but differs from it in that the first segments of the base of the branches are black; the branches are hollow, the teeth of the sheaths have a black border. The ribs of the stem are wrinkled in the transverse direction (under a magnifying glass). Stems and branches often end in spore-bearing spikelets. Sheaths with 2-7 lanceolate, unfused teeth, rhizomes without nodules. Marsh horsetail – Equisetum fluviatile L. The stem is much thicker, within 0.5 cm in diameter, the branches are short or completely absent, the ribs are smooth, slightly protruding, 15-20 teeth. On the ribs in the upper part of the stems there are cone-shaped papillae (under a magnifying glass). Marsh horsetail – Equisetum palustre L. In appearance it is very similar to the field horsetail, but differs from it in that the first segments of the base of the branches are black; the branches are hollow, the teeth of the sheaths have a black border. The ribs of the stem are wrinkled in the transverse direction (under a magnifying glass). Stems and branches often end in spore-bearing spikelets. Sheaths with 2-7 lanceolate, unfused teeth, rhizomes without nodules. Marsh horsetail – Equisetum fluviatile L. The stem is much thicker, within 0.5 cm in diameter, the branches are short or completely absent, the ribs are smooth, slightly protruding, 15-20 teeth. that the first segments of the base of the branches are black; the branches are hollow, the teeth of the sheaths have a black border. The ribs of the stem are wrinkled in the transverse direction (under a magnifying glass). Stems and branches often end in spore-bearing spikelets. Sheaths with 2-7 lanceolate, unfused teeth, rhizomes without nodules. Marsh horsetail – Equisetum fluviatile L. The stem is much thicker, within 0.5 cm in diameter, the branches are short or completely absent, the ribs are smooth, slightly protruding, 15-20 teeth. that the first segments of the base of the branches are black; the branches are hollow, the teeth of the sheaths have a black border. The ribs of the stem are wrinkled in the transverse direction (under a magnifying glass). Stems and branches often end in spore-bearing spikelets. Sheaths with 2-7 lanceolate, unfused teeth, rhizomes without nodules. Marsh horsetail – Equisetum fluviatile L. The stem is much thicker, within 0.5 cm in diameter, the branches are short or completely absent, the ribs are smooth, slightly protruding, 15-20 teeth.

Harvesting, description of raw materials:

For medicinal purposes, “horsetail herb” – Herba Equiseti is used. Vegetative shoots of horsetail are harvested in June. Air drying. The raw material consists of branched stems up to 30 cm long. The color of the grass is gray-green, there is no smell, the taste is slightly sour.

Contains active substances:

Horsetail herb contains within 5% saponin – equizetonin, flavonoids, up to 25% soluble silicic acid, glycosides, traces of alkaloids.

Medicinal use:

It is used as a diuretic for edema, for inflammatory processes of the bladder and urinary tract, for pleurisy with a large amount of exudate. It is less commonly used as a hemostatic agent for hemorrhoidal and uterine bleeding. In folk medicine, as in scientific medicine, an aqueous decoction of the herb is used for diseases of the kidneys and bladder. In addition, with kidney stones, liver disease, as a blood purifier, with female diseases.

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