History/Traditional

Horsetail thrived during the Paleozoic era, about 400 millions ago, and during the Carboniferous Period, it was a predominant plant that was more than 40 feet tall. Horsetail was found throughout parts of Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and North America, explaining its frequent appearance in traditional use of many parts of the world. 

Horsetail made its medicinal debut in ancient Roman and Greek, when the Roman physician, Galen, use horsetail to treat kidney and bladder troubles, arthritis, bleeding ulcers, and tuberculosis. Horsetail was continuously used in Mediterranean for the same purpose. Similarly in China, horsetail was traditionally used to cool fevers and for eye inflammation, such as swellings and haemorrhoids. Horsetail had a wide application from medicinal use to daily application of hairwash, foot soak, and mouth wash.     

Other than its medicinal use, horsetail was use to file and polish metal due to its silica crystals that form in the stems, giving a scratching effect. This explains why Horsetail is also known for ‘bottle-brush and shave grass’. Furthermore, horsetail was used for culinary purposes, for the inner pulp was eaten like seeds, shoots like asparagus from modern time, and roots as a vegetable. Also, the water from boiling young heads of horsetail was used to eliminate bitter principles.

For medicinal purposes, the fresh or dried aboveground parts of horsetail was traditionally grinded and administered as a herbal tea, otherwise it was also used as topical treatment to apply on affected areas.