horsetail four

Native Americans and early settlers used tea made from Field Horsetail as a diuretic.

Used as a cough medicine for horses.

Source of dyes for clothing, lodges, and porcupine quills.

It was used for scouring and polishing objects.

The young shoots were eaten either cooked or raw.

Extracted silica is used in manufacture of remineralizing and diuretic medicinal products. Other potential uses of biogenic silica include industrial applications (abrasives, toothpaste, protective cloth, optical fibers, thickeners for paint, etc.), detergents, and cleaners. Leaf-odor constituents were used widely in the 1970's in perfumes but are little used now. These constituents can be used as food flavors and flavor enhancers, and as animal repellants.

Can accumulate gold in its tissues, up to 4.5 ounces of gold per ton of fresh plant material. Its value in this regard is primarily as an indicator plant rather than as a commercial source of gold.

Caution: It contains a substance which destroys vitamin B in animals. It is especially poisonous to young horses. Hay containing this weed may be more poisonous than fresh plants in the field.