Gardeners working in accordance with biodynamic principles, in contrast, welcome field horsetail. However, it only gets out of control if the ground has been compressed by heavy machinery or poor husbandry. For a long time the horsetail suffered neglect, but Sebastian Kneipp (1821–1897) revived interest in it and used it to heal wounds and treat rheumatism and gout.Ĭonventional farming views the field horsetail as a weed to be attacked with herbicides if it becomes too widespread. The Roman scholar Pliny the Elder (23–79) asserted that just holding horsetail in your hand was enough to staunch a bleed. Horsetail became famous for its blood-staunching properties. The mighty forests of the ancestors of the horsetail in the Carboniferous era have been transformed over millions of years into coal and today make up our coal reserves. The English name Field Horsetail is thus a direct translation from the Latin. The species name arvense comes from the Latin word arva = field. The scientific name Equisetum derives from the Latin equus = horse and seta = animal hair and describes the stiff stalks of the horsetail. They are followed a few weeks later by branched, sterile green stems. The separate, cone-bearing stems are brownish in colour and appear in early spring. it does not flower but develops cone-like structures which contain the spores. In winter the horsetail withdraws entirely into its underground parts. The largest part of the horsetail is subterranean: most of the stems grow horizontally under the ground, where they branch widely. The stems can be easily broken off at the joints. The joints are enclosed in much reduced, finely toothed leaves which clasp the stem like cuffs. Stems and side shoots consist of several jointed segments which give the appearance of being stacked. Sharp side shoots that resemble pine needles grow in whorls from the grooved main stem. However, while horsetails in the Carboniferous era grew to a height of 30 metres, their modern counterparts reach a more modest 30 to 40 centimetres and live on damp, clayey arable land, the edges of meadows, wasteland and banks. Around 350 million years ago, in the Carboniferous period, together with ferns and club moss it formed huge forests. So delicate and yet so scratchy so hard that people used to polish their pewter with it, but so brittle that it breaks easily the field horsetail is among the most primeval plants. Temperate zones of the northern hemisphere. Synonyms: Bottle-brush, candock, common horsetail, corn horsetail, Dutch rushes, paddock-pipes, pewterwort, scouring rush, shave-grass, western horsetail Scientific Name: Equisetum arvense L.
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