Horsetail is useful if you have brittle finger nails, nose bleeds or earache and makes an excellent eye wash. It is a store house of vitamins and minerals and so makes a tonic for general debility and the tea enriches the blood and revitalises lifeless hair. Its astringent properties strengthen the walls of veins, tightening up varicose veins and helps guard against fatty deposits in the arteries.
Make a decoction of 50g herb to 1.5 pints of water boiled for 20 minutes and soak nails in it to harden them.
Horsetail is an astringent herb and has a diuretic action. It has an affinity for the urinary tract where it can be used to
- sooth inflammation
- haemorrhaging
- cystic ulceration
- ulcers
- cystitis
- and to treat infections.
- It is considered a specific remedy in cases of inflammation or benign enlargement of the prostate gland
- and is also used to quicken the removal of kidney stones.
Its toning and astringent action make it of value in the treatment of incontinence and bed-wetting in children.
It may be applied to such conditions as
- urethritis
- or cystitis with haematuria
- reducing haemorrhage
- and healing wounds thanks to the high silica content.
This local astringent and anti-haemorrhagic effect explains the application of horsetail to such conditions as bleeding from the mouth, nose and vagina, its use to check diarrhoea, dysentery and bleeding from the bowel, and for slow-healing wounds, chilblains and conjunctivitis.
The horsetail constitutes one of the most diuretic species in all the plants. As a diuretic it is particularly suited to metabolic or hormonal oedema during the menopause. The diuretic action is thought to be due partly to the flavonoids and saponins.
It may be taken internally to stop
- bleeding from ulcers
- or curb heavy menstrual bleeding.
It may also be used as a gargle and mouth rinse for sore throat and bleeding gums or mouth ulcers.
Externally it is a vulnerary and may also be applied as
- a compress to fractures and sprains
- wounds
- sores
- skin problems
- and a gargle for mouth and gum inflammations.