Plant Name
EQUISETUM ARVENSE L.
Botanical Info
Perennial sporous herbaceous plant with creeping, penetrating submersed, black rootstock. Stems reach up to 80 cm high with diameter being 3-5 mm.
Geography:
Grows almost everywhere in the terrain of the former Soviet Union, including Central Asia. It is common on waste grounds, roadsides and grassland.
Chemical Content
The horsetail grass contains: aconitic, oxalic and silicic acids (to 2,5 %), tannins, bitter tastes, pitches, 1-5 % of saponin – equisetin, flavonoids (equisetrine, a luteolin-7-glucoside, isoquercitrin, luteolin, kaempferol-7-diglicoside and kaempferol-7-glycoside), 4,7 mg o% of carotin, 30-190 mg % of an ascorbic acid, Sitosterin, methyl sulphone, traces of alkaloids – palustrin, 3-metoxypyridin and a nicotine.
Traditional Use and Activity
In medicine, the decoctions and horsetail liquid extract is used as a strong diuretic for heart diseases and for nephroses that is accompanied by stagnation. It is used in the treatment of urinary tract inflammation, gastromenias, pleurites (with a lot of exudate), and some forms of tuberculosis that lead to disbolism.