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Horsetail is relatively high in selenium. Too much selenium may cause birth defects. In marshes downstream from heavily fertilized agricultural areas, horsetail may have hazardously high selenium levels. Pregnant women should not use this herb.
Horsetail contains a chemical (equisetine) that in large amounts is a nerve poison. Animals fed the herb have suffered fever, weight loss, muscle weakness, and abnormal pulse rate. Animal fatalities have also been reported. Children have reportedly suffered nonfatal reactions after using the hollow stems as toy blowguns and ingesting the juice. Don’t let children play with this herb.
Other Cautions
Because of the problems it has caused in animals, the Food and Drug Administration lists horsetail as an herb of “undefined safety.” For otherwise healthy non-pregnant, non-nursing adults who are not taking other diuretics, horsetail is considered relatively safe when used cautiously for brief periods in amounts typically recommended.
Horsetail should be used in medicinal amounts only in consultation with your doctor. if horsetail causes minor discomforts, such as stomach upset or diarrhea, use less or stop using it. Let your doctor know if you experience any unpleasant effects or if the symptoms for which the herb is being used do not improve significantly in two weeks.
Giant of the Marshes
Horsetail is the sole descendant of the giant fernlike plants that covered the earth some 200 million years ago. The herb’s creeping rhizome sends up hollow, jointed, virtually leafless, bamboo-like stalks that reach 6 feet. At the ends of the stalks, spore-bearing structures (catkins) develop which resemble horse tails, corncobs, or bottle brushes, hence some of the herb’s names.
Horsetails may be purchased from specialty nurseries, or root cuttings may be taken from wild plants in the spring when the spear-like stems have reached a few inches.
Set plants or cuttings just under the surface of marshy soil.
Keep it wet. If you do not want the plant to spread, contain it by embedding sheet metal in the soil to a depth of 18 inches.
Harvest the stalks in the fall.
Make sure children do not suck on the hollow stems.