Field Horsetail or Equisetum Arvense - All About it
Field Horsetail ~ Common Horsetail or Equisetum Arvense
A plant that’s not only beautiful but also of great interest - I don’t believe I’ve seen one before but I did the other day and it really caught my eye
Here’s a look at it and its uses.
What does the Common Horsetail look like ?
Well, pretty spectacular I’m sure you’d agree - it certainly caught my imagination both then and subsequently.
Given the way it looks I’m pretty sure I’d recall them had I stumbled across them in my wanderings before. I presumed them to be relatively uncommon though subsequent research suggests not - I’ll keep a look out for them but as I said I don’t think you see the every day in Lincolnshire.
The species is regarded as a ‘living fossil’ with a history dating back 100 million years. This makes of even greater interest to me as on the day I saw and photographed these I also found fossils in a dramatic landscape. I always wonder what places once looked like at various periods in history and to get a very real visual idea of the plant life all that time ago is truly fascinating - well to me at least.
Eaten in sufficient quantities by livestock it can be poisonous although the Japanese and Koreans eat the fresh bud tips !
Herbalism - Herbal Remedies
The Common or Field Horsetail has a variety of uses both historically and also in modern day herbal remedies, they are used in the treatment kidney and bladder complaints, gastro-enteritis, and prostate and urinary infections.
In particularl an indicated use is for treating bed wetting in children and for those older who suffer from bladder weakness.
Please note - I am not advocating the use of this plant in any way - it’s strictly for professional use
I hope you’ll agree it is a beautiful plant not to mention an ancient and useful one. I wonder; for how many 1,000s of years have our ancestors roamed the planet and made use of this plant. So not only a joy to see but also a living piece of history which can open our eyes to how the landscape may once have looked.
Keep your eyes open for it and just think - somebody else perhaps stood where you are a few million years ago and saw the very same thing
Equisetum Arvense
If you know any more or have any opinions - please do leave a comment.
My thanks to Chris Keyworth for identifying the plant
Herbalistically Yours
Rod
chris keyworth said,
August 4, 2010 @ 8:03 pm
a cracking photo and write up rod of a very useful and interesting find, stuff metal detecting im off finding plants in future it will dull my pains lol….
regards
chris
Rod said,
August 5, 2010 @ 8:28 am
Chris,
there is something very satisfying about identifying plants and insects etc - I thoroughly enjoy it and have bought several books to help the situation.
I may take some better pictures as I did these with a telephoto if you remember just for ID purposes not realising it would be such an interesting and ancient plant
Cheers
Rod
Amiguru said,
August 12, 2010 @ 9:13 pm
Rod,
I’m still catching up - would have been sooner if HH hadn’t sent me on a wild goose-chase
This certainly is an amazingly ancient plant, but don’t, whatever you do, plant it in your garden! It is most persistent and resistant to weedkillers; loves getting under walls and the rhizomes once established can go as deep as 40 feet! That is not a typo!
Here are some more facts about it:
A major use for this plant in the past was as an abrasive. The outer layer particularly is rich in silicon and in the old days they were used for polishing metal, cabinet makers ’sand-paper’, for scouring pewter and wooden kitchen utensils, fletchers (arrow-makers) and comb-makers finished their products with it. Apparently, it also gives a particularly close shave - have to try it tomorrow
In Scandinavia it is regarded as a fine substitute for grass in horse-feeding but is not given to cattle as their softer teeth get worn away…..Eee-by-gum!
Some more of its common names are: Shave grass; Bottle brush; Paddock pipes; Dutch rushes; Pewterwort; Scouring rush;.
All of the above, by the way is from the 800 page botanists’ bible, ‘A Modern Herbal’ by Mrs. M. Grieve F.R.H.S. No W or G used here gov
Regards,
Neville
Chris Keyworth said,
August 12, 2010 @ 10:04 pm
great info nev
regards
chris
Rod said,
August 13, 2010 @ 7:51 am
Neville,
many thanks - it really is someting a special.
I’ve beeen keeping my eyes open for it but still haven’t seen it anywhere else yet.
Thanks again for the fascinating infomation Neville, I never came across any of that in my research.
Fabulous
Rod !
Roderick O'Connor said,
September 8, 2010 @ 2:58 pm
I agree about its beauty. We discovered it on the path alongside the north york moors railway above Grosmont, and could not identify it for months.
We returned to dig some up, but it rapidly dessicated and died before we could replant.
Now I find that it is considered to be a noxious weed, and any surviving spores that I have buried are likely to spread widely in the garden and neighbourhood. Oh well,
Rod said,
September 8, 2010 @ 4:55 pm
Roderick,
thanks for the comment and welcome to the site.
I must say I was both surprised and disappointed to see it regarded as a rampant weed as it looks so atractive.
Best
Rod