Official name: Common Horsetail

Latin name: Equisetum arvense L.

Other names: wild “boriĸa”, boriĸa, snake tail, hare tail, baldhead, horse cure

Description: Horsetail is a perennial spore plant from the Horsetail family (Equisentaceae). In Bulgaria, the plant is found in wet places, meadows, fields and places with an altitude of up to 2000 m. The rhizome is brown-black, strongly branched, knotty, with thin roots and black tubers. Two types of stems grow from it every year: brown spore-bearing - in the spring and green spore-bearing - in the summer. For medicinal purposes, the summer uncontested poles are used. They are up to 50 cm. high, green, striated. Branches are upright and always re-branch. Both the stem and its branches are hard, rough and tough. Spores mature in April and May.

Part of the herb used: The green non-spore-bearing summer herb along with the twigs (Herba Equiseti) is used.

Harvest time: The medicinal plant is harvested in June and August, collecting the entire aerial part of the herb, which is cut at a distance of no more than 20 cm. from the height. The taste is faintly astringent, cloying. The collected leaf material is dried at ordinary temperature.

Chemical composition/Content and properties: The medicinal plant contains a number of active bioactive substances such as silicon compounds, alkaloids, tannins, saponins, flavonoids, vitamin C, beta carotene, bitter and resinous substances. The herb is also rich in zinc, silicon, provitamin A and lipids, which support the absorption of calcium by the body, and strengthen nails and teeth, regulate the functions of the sebaceous glands, have a good effect on hair and skin, and cleanse the body of accumulated lead.

Medicinal action and application: Horsetail is used in medicine as a diuretic and hemostatic agent, which increases the resistance of connective tissue. It is used for fluid retention in the body in heart and kidney diseases, in cases of internal secretion glands, in chronic arthritis and arthrosis, in uterine bleeding and hemorrhoids, in gallstones, hypertension and in diseases of the respiratory organs. Externally, the medicinal plant is applied as poultices for varicose veins, bone tuberculosis, eczema, non-healing wounds and washes for inflammatory processes.

Possibilities to offer at the customer's request:

Vesselino Ltd. offers their customers the plant in the following varieties:

• herb (Herba Equiseti) - dried whole, crushed, cut to a certain size at the customer's request, ground into herbal powder/flour

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