Equisetum hyemale

Horsetail ( Equisetum hyemale )

The Horsetail ( Equisetum hyemale ) is a plant of the genus Equisetum ( Equisetum ).

Features

The Horsetail is an evergreen Chamaephyt. The hard, rough, mostly unbranched shoots reached a plant height of 30 to 150 cm and a diameter of 4 to 6 mm; the diameter of the central cavity is approximately 2/ 3 to 9 /10 of stem diameter. Spiked and barren shoots are not different; both are dark green and usually without side branches. The sheaths are tight, to 15 mm long with early decaying teeth. The shoots have 15 to 25 ribs; each rib has two edges, between which lies a shallow depression. The up to 12 mm long spike terminates in a small tip; the spores are formed from June to August.

The chromosome number is 2n = 216

Equisetum hyemale hybridized with other species of the genus Hippochaete.

• Equisetum x moorei Newman = Equisetum Equisetum × hyemale ramosissimum
• Equisetum × trachydon A.Braun = Equisetum Equisetum variegatum hyemale ×
• Equisetum × ferrissii Clute = Equisetum Equisetum × hyemale laevigatum

Distribution and location

The Horsetail is circumpolar and northern eurasia table spread to sub-Mediterranean. In Germany and adjacent areas, the species is common to rare. In some German states, it is considered endangered to critically endangered.

The Horsetail is often the case in larger flocks in lowland forests, source bogs, thickets and forest fringes, which are characterized by groundwater or leachate and often changeable damp. He prefers nutrient -and base- rich, mild to moderate acidic loam and clay soils ( Gleyböden ) and is a deep -rooted Wasserzugzeiger. It appears in the plain to hill and altitude level, reached in the Black Forest but also heights up to 800 m and in the Alps to 1370 meters.

After Ellenberg on the winter is half full sunlight and heat a default pointer that is intermediate continental spread. He is also a humidity indicator, a weak acid to weak base pointer and a Verbandscharakterart of alder and broadleaf riparian forests ( Alno - Ulmion ).

Ingredients

The winter horsetail contains the alkaloid Palustrin alongside other accompanying alkaloids. It is therefore considered poisonous.

Use

Horsetail has been used in the wood sculpture for the final smoothing wood surfaces in the 19th century before the invention of sandpaper. The American sculptor David Esterly could prove this with carvings of the Baroque sculptor Grinling Gibbons, when he was charged with the reconstruction of carvings, which were lost in the fire at Hampton Court Palace in 1986. Due to the structure of their stems they leave specific notches, which were detectable on the carvings. Other sculptors, in which one is certain that they used Horsetail in a similar manner, are Michel Erhart, Veit Stoss and Tilman Riemenschneider.

For some years winter horsetails be used in nurseries for dry bouquets ( " snake grass "). Even as an ornamental plant in garden ponds the type used. In addition, Equisetum hyemale is used as an active ingredient in homeopathic medicines. The effect ascribed particularly against urinary tract infections, however, is not scientifically confirmed.