Wintering horsetail, also called winter horsetail or wintering horsetail, belongs to the horsetail family and is a plant that grows in soils with high levels of fertility.

It is a shallow water and coastal plant that can grow in partial shade and full sun. Despite the fact that the plant has useful medicinal properties, one should take into account its toxicity and, accordingly, danger in case of improper use.

Wintering horsetail: description

The color of the stems is gray-green. They are distinguished by the absence of branches and ribbing. The diameter of the stems can reach 10 mm.

A spore-bearing spikelet develops at the top of the stem. As for the leaf teeth, they are awl-shaped, black in color, but have a lightened edge. They tend to fall off when the shoot just begins to develop, remaining only on the upper nodes.

The plant has a multi-year development cycle. The wintering horsetail (photo below) can reach 60 cm and even one meter in height.

It is impossible not to note the cold resistance of this horsetail, its special resistance to low temperatures.

There are also decorative varieties of wintering horsetail - for example, with short side branches.

The main places where the plant grows:

• Eurasian as well as North American grasslands;
• river valleys;
• ravines.

Medicinal properties

Wintering horsetail contains silicic acid, various resins, the alkaloid nicotine, as well as dimethyl sulfone and other useful substances. By the way, there are very few alkaloids in it.

A decoction made from this plant crop has long been used in traditional Chinese medicine recipes, as well as in empirical therapy practiced on the Eurasian and American continents.

What diseases does the plant treat?

In particular, it is used to treat bladder, hematurgy, chronic urethritis, kidney-related ailments, and problems with urinary incontinence. This herb has an astringent and hemostatic effect, so it is suitable for combating hemorrhoids, gonorrhea, leucorrhoea, eye inflammation and regulates heavy menstruation.

Even the flu and just a migraine, it turns out, can be treated by resorting to the healing properties of this plant crop. An infusion made from it is used to treat jaundice, diarrhea and fight lack of appetite.

The Indians, by the way, used hibernating horsetail and its medicinal properties in the fight against tumor formations, ulcers, and inflammatory processes in the intestines and mammary glands. Doctors in Indochina resort to this plant as a cleanser for the stomach. And Korean doctors recommend it as a choleretic and diuretic drug, using it to stop intestinal, uterine and hemorrhoidal bleeding, hemoptysis, and get rid of dysentery.

If you need to relieve swelling or solve problems with urination, the described plant will also come in handy.

Wintering horsetail: application

The plant has a large number of medicinal properties and, as a result, is actively used in medicine - both in the manufacture of pharmacological drugs and in the traditional treatment of various diseases.

In particular, it is used to make a diuretic drug that helps treat kidney inflammation and relieve swelling. To prepare it you will need:

• wintering horsetail - 2 tablespoons;
• hot water - 1 glass.

The ingredients must be mixed and heated in a water bath for half an hour. Then the broth needs to be cooled and strained. Take half a glass three times a day. Better an hour after eating.

Alcohol tincture recipe

You need to put fresh crushed wintering horsetail in a glass bottle. A little less than half the container. Then add alcohol (60%) or vodka. Leave for 20 days in a place protected from sunlight. Take tincture in the amount of 30 drops dissolved in water. This should be done regularly - three times a day, half an hour before meals.

The benefits and amazing therapeutic properties of this plant culture are evidenced by the possibility of its use in the treatment of cancer.

Prescription for the treatment of oncology

For example, women with uterine cancer are recommended to drink a decoction for a month according to the following recipe:

• A tablespoon of dried herb is poured with boiling water (one glass is enough).
• The solution is covered with a lid, after which it is infused for a couple of hours.
• The infusion is drunk in the morning and evening, half a glass.

For throat cancer, you need a decoction prepared in the following way:

• Overwintering horsetail (in the amount of 3 tablespoons) is boiled in a liter of water for 10 minutes.
• Then the broth is filtered and honey is diluted in it (in the amount of 4 tablespoons).
• The solution must be brought to a boil again.
• Remove from heat and give it time to cool.

You should gargle with the resulting decoction many times a day.

The medicinal properties of wintering horsetail make it an indispensable component for the manufacture of many products, thanks to which a person can successfully fight a number of diseases and improve their health.

“And this is the vaunted horsetail that hibernates?” – a friend asked me in surprise, asking to show him the plant. He expected to see on the stem the usual thin muslin of leaves for horsetails, but here, at the edge of the forest, absolutely bare dark green stems, almost a meter high, with sparse thickenings of internodes, stuck out. They are somewhat reminiscent of a river kuga.
Below, along the entire forest edge, horsetail grew almost like a continuous wall. Young plants resembled pine trees; on adults, “pine needles” blossomed into corymbose leaves.
Even lower, in a damp lowland, sinking and squelching underfoot, not far from the stream, marsh horsetail reigned. And if you go deeper into the forest, you could find branched or forest horsetail. Here, in a small area near the mouth of Bersuvani, there was, one might say, a kingdom of horsetails.
But we came for winter horsetail, or rather, wintering horsetail. It actually goes green for the winter under the snow, and in early spring, when it is still black and there is not a single blade of grass around, the overwintered, faded horsetail turns green, visible from afar as a kind of picket fence.
Now, in July, you take it by the tip and pull out a fresh stem, like the tip of a stereoscopic fishing rod, because the old one, which has overwintered, remains sticking out in the ground with an empty casing.
Information about it can be found, perhaps, only in the Lavrenevs’ “Complete Encyclopedia of Medicinal Plants,” because the plant is used very rarely, and few people are familiar with it. Moreover, you need to know how to use it, but there are no recipes. To use it at random is not far from disaster, the plant is poisonous.
However, experts in traditional medicine in China, Europe, America, and here in Siberia use wintering horsetail for diseases of the bladder, hematuria, urinary incontinence, chronic urethritis, and some kidney diseases. The herb is used for heavy menstruation, hemorrhoids, leucorrhoea, and inflammation of ulcerated eyes. However, like other horsetails, they are used for pulmonary tuberculosis, bronchitis, exudative pleurisy, throat diseases, headaches, flu, and as a painkiller for articular rheumatism.
In Indochina, the herb is considered a stomach cleanser. The Indians used wintering horsetail for ulcers, tumors, inflammation of the mammary gland and intestines. In Korea, it is used as a hemostatic for nosebleeds, hemoptysis, intestinal bleeding, hemorrhoidal and uterine bleeding, leucorrhoea, edema, and eye diseases.
I go out for wintering horsetail with a specific purpose. I only use it for a few diseases, where it has been tested for a long time and gives results. First of all, I use it in the treatment of uterine cancer. Not in a row, that is, not in every case, but selectively – where it is most needed. What's interesting is this. Usually you look at the chemical composition of the plant: does it contain triterpene compounds, hydroquinone, or this or that amount of alkaloids that suppress the growth of cancer cells. But there is none of this in wintering horsetail. Here are silicic acid, dimethyl sulfone, sugar, tannins, resins, equisitinic acid, mucus, and the alkaloid nicotine. There are so few other alkaloids in the plant that some researchers have not detected them. What could be at work here? Is it really an alkaloid nicotine? Or did the entire treatment complex, which included wintering horsetail, bring results? In any case, even after long treatment, people recovered. I also used wintering horsetail in the treatment of fibroids and fibroids. And he also provided good help with exudative pleurisy - he did not allow fluid to accumulate in the pleura during lung cancer.
I have also seen help from hibernating horsetail for throat cancer. Here, apparently, the huge silicon content in the grass had an effect.
UTERINE CANCER. Pour 1 tablespoon of dry crushed herb with a glass of boiling water, close the lid and leave for 2 hours. Strain. Drink half a glass in the morning, and the other half in the evening, two hours before bedtime. They don't drink for a long time. Course – 3-4 weeks. Then a break.
THROAT CANCER. Boil 3 tablespoons of wintering horsetail in 1 liter of water for 10 minutes. Remove from heat, dilute 4 tablespoons of honey in the strained broth and bring to a boil again. But don't cook. Let cool. And gargle with warm broth up to 10 times a day.

* * *

Overwintering horsetail is toxic, you need to know this. And don't abuse it. Like all horsetails, it is contraindicated in acute inflammation of the kidneys - do not use in these cases. If you feel discomfort (mild poisoning), reduce the dose by half. And be sure to tell the doctor who prescribed the medicine about any discomfort or ailments.

For gardeners, horsetail is simply a weed. Why is he interesting? It turns out that modern horsetails are representatives of one of the most ancient plant families on our planet.

Wintering horsetail (Equisetum hiemale L.) is a perennial herbaceous plant of the horsetail family (Equisetaceae), up to 1 meter high, with a long creeping brownish-black rhizome, with black spherical nodules. The stems are thick, jointed, dark green, simple, erect, hollow inside. They are extremely hard and rough to the touch due to the silicic acid crystals formed in them. This is where the use of hibernating horsetail came from for technical needs: for polishing furniture, cleaning metal parts during tinning and soldering (instead of sandpaper), etc.

Horsetail is distributed throughout almost the entire territory of the CIS, with the exception of the Far North and deserts. The plant is an indicator - its large thickets indicate increased soil acidity.

Chemical composition: high ash content (up to 25%), which contains up to 80% silicic acid and up to 10% calcium and potassium; equisetic or aconitic acid; vitamin C and carotene; alkaloids; tannins.

The plant is poisonous!

Horsetail has been known as a medicinal plant for a long time. Avicenna used its juice to treat wounds and ulcers, and wine infusions to treat liver and stomach tumors, dropsy and intestinal disorders.

Horsetail has an astringent, hemostatic, diuretic and hypotensive effect. Used for diseases of the heart and kidneys (especially for edema and other congestion due to circulatory failure), pleurisy, bronchitis, and some forms of pulmonary tuberculosis associated with impaired silicate metabolism; as a hemostatic for hemorrhoids, uterine, pulmonary, nasal, intestinal and gastric bleeding; for acute and chronic lead poisoning. In folk medicine, horsetail is used for dysentery, diarrhea, rheumatism, dropsy, gout, jaundice, liver diseases, bronchitis, atherosclerosis, kidney and bladder diseases (including urolithiasis), as a sedative and analgesic for headaches and flu; to stimulate appetite.

Externally, wintering horsetail herb is used in the form of baths, lotions and compresses - for fistulas, eczema, boils, ringworm, and joint diseases. In the form of rinses - for stomatitis and other inflammations of the oral mucosa, for chronic tonsillitis; in the form of douching - for leucorrhoea and gynecological inflammation.

Due to the high content of silicic acid in wintering horsetail, it is a very valuable plant for our body.

Lack of silicon in food and water causes weakness of connective tissue and loss of elastic fibers that are unable to hold organs, which contributes to prolapse of the kidneys, the formation of hernial protrusions, prolapse of the uterus, vagina, rectum, early appearance of wrinkles, early atherosclerosis, dysfunction of venous valves, causes varicose veins, etc. The elasticity and firmness of vascular walls depends on the content of healthy elastin in them, which cannot function normally without silicon. In addition, silicon in elastin delays the penetration of cholesterol and calcium salts into the walls of blood vessels, which protects the body from early atherosclerosis with serious consequences (heart attack, stroke, etc.). The presence of a sufficient amount of silicon in the parenchyma of the liver and kidneys protects these organs from the formation of stones and inflammatory processes in them.

Silicon also enhances the transmission of nerve impulses from internal organs to the cerebral cortex and from the brain to organs. A lack of silicon in the nervous system causes neuropsychiatric disorders, and in the skin - skin diseases (eczema, psoriasis, etc.).

With a lack of silicon, increased deposition of calcium salts occurs in tendons, ligaments, joints (arthrosis), spine (osteochondrosis), and blood vessels (atherosclerosis). Methods of application and dosage.

1. Herbal decoction: 1 tbsp. l. dry crushed raw materials, pour 1 cup of boiling water and simmer over low heat for 5-10 minutes, leave for 1 hour, strain. Take from 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon, depending on age, 3-5 times a day.

2. Alcohol tincture: fill a glass vessel with a capacity of 250 ml with raw materials to 1/3 of the volume and fill to the top with vodka or alcohol (50-60%), leave for 21 days. Take 30 drops per 50 ml of water 3 times a day before meals.

Oksana Valerievna PANKOVA,herbalist-healer

Almost until the beginning of the 20th century, field and forest horsetails were used to dye wool gray-yellow. The poor population of Eurasia and North America widely used young, slightly sweet, spore-bearing shoots of horsetail and starchy tubers of this species for food.

But the Indians of the New World used horsetail rhizomes to weave their baskets. Due to its high silica content, wintering horsetail was used for technical needs instead of sandpaper: it was used to polish furniture and horn (“horsetailing”). cleaned metal utensils. Any tourist knows that an excellent remedy for cleaning a smoked pot is horsetail.

Material from Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia

International scientific name

Equisetum hyemale, 1753

Security status

Taxonomy on Wikispecies

Images on Wikimedia Commons

IPNI TPL

Horsetail overwintering, or Horsetail, or Horsetail wintering(lat. Equisetum hyemale) - a species of perennial herbaceous plants of the genus Horsetail of the Horsetail family ( Equisetaceae).

Biological description

Distribution and ecology

Economic importance and application

Medicinal, poisonous plant.

The stems of the plant, due to the presence of silicon dioxide (silica), which has high hardness, in the walls of their cells, can be used for grinding metal parts and cleaning dishes.

In folk medicine, the herb is used for urolithiasis, ascites, pulmonary tuberculosis, gastritis, enterocolitis, jaundice, uterine tumors, to stimulate appetite, for arthritis, myalgia after physical overexertion, as an analgesic for headaches. Externally - for mastitis, pyoderma, rectal prolapse, ulcers.

In Chinese medicine, the aerial part is used as a diuretic; in Vietnamese - as a hemostatic agent for eye diseases; in Korean - similar to Chinese and Vietnamese and, in addition, as a diaphoretic, for dysentery, leucorrhoea, in collections - as a diuretic for cystitis, urethritis, chronic hepatitis, metrorrhagia. On the Commander Islands, a decoction of the aerial part is used for rheumatism.

Wintering horsetail is a fodder plant for cattle.

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Notes

Literature

• Gubanov, I. A. et al. 29. Equisetum hyemale L.[ Hippochaete hyemalis(L.) Bruhin] - Horsetail, or wintering horsetail // . - M.: Scientific T. ed. KMK, Institute of Technology. research, 2002. - T. 1. Ferns, horsetails, club mosses, gymnosperms, angiosperms (monocots). - P. 103. - ISBN 8-87317-091-6.
• Petukhov, A. V., Kordyukov, A. V., Baranchuk-Chervonny, L. N. Atlas of vascular plants in the vicinity of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. - Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk: Akon, 2010. - 220 p. - 1500 copies. - ISBN 978-5-904209-05-6.

Links

• : information about the taxon in the Plantarium project (identifier of plants and illustrated atlas of species). (Retrieved August 26, 2012)

An excerpt characterizing the wintering horsetail

When he returned back to the room, Pierre was sitting in the same place where he had sat before, with his hands on his head. His face expressed suffering. He was really suffering at that moment. When the captain left and Pierre was left alone, he suddenly came to his senses and realized the position in which he was. It was not that Moscow was taken, and not that these happy victors ruled it and patronized him - no matter how hard Pierre felt this, this was not what tormented him at the moment. He was tormented by the consciousness of his weakness. A few glasses of wine and a conversation with this good-natured man destroyed the concentrated gloomy mood in which Pierre lived these last days and which was necessary for the fulfillment of his intentions. The pistol, the dagger, and the coat were ready; Napoleon was arriving tomorrow. Pierre also considered it useful and worthy to kill the villain; but he felt that now he would not do it. Why? - he didn’t know, but he seemed to have a presentiment that he would not fulfill his intention. He fought against the consciousness of his weakness, but vaguely felt that he could not overcome it, that the previous gloomy system of thoughts about revenge, murder and self-sacrifice had scattered like dust at the touch of the first person.
The captain, limping slightly and whistling something, entered the room.
The Frenchman's chatter, which had previously amused Pierre, now seemed disgusting to him. And the whistling song, and the gait, and the gesture of twirling his mustache - everything now seemed offensive to Pierre.
“I’ll leave now, I won’t say a word to him again,” thought Pierre. He thought this, and meanwhile he was still sitting in the same place. Some strange feeling of weakness chained him to his place: he wanted but could not get up and leave.
The captain, on the contrary, seemed very cheerful. He walked around the room twice. His eyes sparkled and his mustache twitched slightly, as if he was smiling to himself at some funny invention.
“Charmant,” he said suddenly, “le colonel de ces Wurtembourgeois!” C "est un Allemand; mais brave garcon, s"il en fut. Mais Allemand. [Lovely, colonel of these Württembergers! He is German; but a nice fellow, despite this. But German.]
He sat down opposite Pierre.
– A propos, vous savez donc l "allemand, vous? [By the way, do you know German?]
Pierre looked at him silently.
– Comment dites vous asile en allemand? [How do you say shelter in German?]
- Asile? - Pierre repeated. – Asile en allemand – Unterkunft. [Asylum? Refuge - in German - Unterkunft.]
– Comment dites vous? [How do you say?] - the captain asked incredulously and quickly.
“Unterkunft,” Pierre repeated.
“Onterkoff,” said the captain and looked at Pierre with laughing eyes for several seconds. – Les Allemands sont de fieres betes. “N"est ce pas, monsieur Pierre? [These Germans are such fools. Isn’t it so, Monsieur Pierre?],” he concluded.
- Eh bien, encore une bouteille de ce Bordeau Moscovite, n "est ce pas? Morel, va nous chauffer encore une pelilo bouteille. Morel! [Well, another bottle of this Moscow Bordeaux, isn’t it? Morel will warm us another bottle. Morel !] – the captain shouted cheerfully.
Morel served candles and a bottle of wine. The captain looked at Pierre in the light, and he was apparently struck by the upset face of his interlocutor. Rambal, with sincere grief and sympathy on his face, approached Pierre and bent over him.
“Eh bien, nous sommes tristes, [What is it, are we sad?],” he said, touching Pierre’s hand. – Vous aurai je fait de la peine? “Non, vrai, avez vous quelque chose contre moi,” he asked again. – Peut etre rapport a la situation? [Perhaps I have upset you? No, really, don’t you have something against me? Maybe regarding the position?]
Pierre did not answer, but looked affectionately into the Frenchman’s eyes. This expression of participation pleased him.
- Parole d"honneur, sans parler de ce que je vous dois, j"ai de l"amitie pour vous. Puis je faire quelque chose pour vous? Disposez de moi. C"est a la vie et a la mort. C"est la main sur le c?ur que je vous le dis, [Honestly, not to mention what I owe you, I feel friendship for you. Can I do something for you? Use me. This is for life and death. I tell you this with my hand on my heart,” he said, hitting his chest.

The appearance of horsetail on a site, as a rule, does not bode well, since in nature it is known as an aggressive weed that grows in acidic soils. But not everything is so simple! Among the varieties of horsetails there are several species that will be desirable plants in landscape design. It is these decorative horsetails for the garden that we will talk about.

Horsetail is a perennial herbaceous plant of the Equisetaceae family, with about 30 species distributed throughout the world, except New Zealand and Australia. Its favorite habitats in nature are swampy areas and damp forests, where the plant forms dense and strong thickets.

horsetail

This is a unique plant in every sense, from its origin, dating back to the Cretaceous period, to its amazing qualities. For example, this main quality is indicated in the name of the genus itself, which consists of two Latin words: “equus” - horse and “saeta” - bristles. The tough stems of “steel grass,” as horsetail is also called, contain the mineral silica, which makes them very durable. The surface of the stem has a rough structure, which allows you to polish metal products to a shine, polish wood or stone, clean soot from dishes, and even do a manicure using the stem as a nail file.

The surface of the stem has a rough structure, which allows it to polish metal products to a shine.

Of course, in the modern world there are special devices and chemicals for performing all of the above actions, but in prehistoric times this plant was simply an indispensable assistant in everyday life. The ancient Romans used it as a substitute for soap, and a decoction of the roots was used as a natural dye for wool. Nowadays, horsetail is used in many areas of pharmacology and cosmetology, but they prefer not to see it in the garden.

Horsetails are resistant to unfavorable conditions and have long rhizomes that can grow quickly, capturing large areas like a malicious weed. This is especially true for horsetail species that do not have decorative value for the garden, such as meadow horsetail or field horsetail. However, there are species that can create a spectacular landscape, emphasizing a certain garden style. And one of its most striking representatives is the wintering horsetail.

Horsetail overwintering(lat. Equisétum hyemále) differs from other species in its ability to remain decorative throughout the entire season, because this type of plant is winter green. The height of the shoots of wintering horsetail, which is crowned with a spore-bearing spikelet at the top, ranges on average from 50 cm to 1 m. Its jointed stem, hollow inside, has a ribbed texture, consists of alternating nodes and internodes, which in appearance resembles a spyglass or bamboo. The scale-like leaves at the internodes are connected around the trunk, forming narrow black-green stripes. Due to their structure, reduced leaves cannot perform the function of photosynthesis, so the stem itself does it instead. Buds are often formed on a horizontally located rhizome. Horsetail can reproduce both by pieces of rhizomes and by spores that are formed in sporangia located at the ends of the stems.

Where would wintering horsetail be appropriate?

It’s hard to imagine a more spectacular stylization of bamboo than wintering horsetail. Evergreen slender stems will fit into your small Japanese-style corner, especially if you complement it with appropriate decor. For example, smooth pebbles will pair perfectly with the vertical lines of green “bamboo sticks” in both style and texture.

The popular “high-tech” style of landscape design is also favorable to the laconic beauty of horsetail, especially if you fit this plant into wooden platforms, concrete and metal structures, always with the presence of gravel of different fractions and colors. Simplicity, clear lines and persistent greenery are the main weapons of wintering horsetail, which allows it to look exotic even against the background of a nondescript gray wall or fence.

Simplicity, clear lines and persistent greenery are the main weapons of wintering horsetail, which allows it to look exotic even against the background of a nondescript gray wall or fence.

A dense grove of green horsetail stems will be bright starting in early spring, when the bulk of the plants are still bare. But your primroses will have an excellent green background to shine in their full glory!

And, of course, all kinds of artificial reservoirs will be an excellent place to use horsetail overwintering in the landscape! It can be used as a background plant or as a main structural element along the edge of a shoreline or in shallow water in a container.

How to tame wintering horsetail in the garden

Wintering horsetail is an absolutely unpretentious plant that can withstand our winters and the polluted atmosphere of the city. To successfully maintain it in the garden, so that the plant does not turn into an aggressive weed and is decorative, you need to follow simple rules.

1. When choosing a location for wintering horsetail, consider first of all the design objectives, but remember that in nature this plant will prefer partial shade and moisture. After all, its natural habitats are forest canopies and the banks of reservoirs. The open sun will also not scare away horsetail, especially if you provide it with enough water.

2. Preferably loamy soils with the addition of high-moor peat, which can later be used as mulch.

3. Deciduous ornamental trees will be excellent neighbors for horsetail: birch, aspen, linden, maple or oak.

4. As mentioned above, this plant is moisture-loving, so if it is planted far from a pond, do not skimp on watering!

5. One of the most important rules for growing wintering horsetail is limiting the growth of rhizomes! I advise you to plant it only in containers, various containers, burying it in the ground. Or build any other strong barrier to the rhizome.

One of the most important rules for growing wintering horsetail is limiting the growth of rhizomes!

Wintering horsetail reproduces well in bunches and divisions. To obtain a wide array, you need to wait a couple of years until the rhizome gets stronger and the plant begins to actively increase the vegetative mass.