Herbs & Herbal Remedies @ Green Papaya

Equisetum Arvense

EQUISETACEAE

horsetail, scouring rush, joint weed, bull pipes, shauebrush, bottlebrush, pewterwort, deoil’s-guis, field- or common horsetail

There are a number of varieties and forms of E. aroense, and possibly a dozen species of Equisetum, some taller, thicker, or otherwise diversified. According to most botanists, flowering plants began with this genus. Horsetails are generally considered primitive plants; they represent a flowering plant which is directly related to the quite different flora of the Carboniferous age. In Gray’s Manual, Equisetaceae is the first listed family.

Horsetail contains some unknown factor which is poisonous to animals, and this indicates caution in using it medicinally. Actually, there is no great evidence of the value of Equisetum in home medicine, and it is not mentioned in pharmaceutical texts. The statement made in Grieve’s Herbal may best represent the possible values:

The barren stems only are used medicinally, … used either fresh or dried… Diuretic and astringent. Horsetail has been found beneficial in dropsy, gravel, and kidney affections …. Besides … a strong decoction acts as an emmenagogue… The decoction applied externally will stop the bleeding of wounds.

Even assuming these values, the author prefers to use some of the other recommended plants for such purposes.

Yet horsetails (any of the species) do have a value in the home, for the names scouring rush and pewterwort indicate the presence of silica, which makes horsetails of value for scouring pots and pans, and Equisetum can be so used by campers. The useful part of the plant is the leafless, sporebearing flowering stalk which appears before the feathery-foliage growth.