Zinnkraut (Ackerschachtelhalm)

Promotes blood clotting, acts as a diuretic, speeds up connective tissue regeneration, and aids healing in bone fractures and sprains. Due to its high silica content, horsetail tea is excellent for bones, cartilage, nails, and hair. It also has beneficial effects on inflammatory conditions of the kidneys, bladder, and urinary tract. Additionally, it supports flushing out gout and fighting rheumatism! Horsetail tea strengthens all connective tissues and, when drunk on an empty stomach, helps reduce fat and water retention in the body due to its diuretic effect.

Sitz baths or steam baths are also very soothing for abdominal issues, bladder infections, and kidney pain.

Horsetail was once used to polish metal and wood, as its high silica content made it an effective abrasive, hence its old name “tinweed.” It was also tied to the tails of livestock to help them swat away bothersome flies more effectively. For a long time, horsetail was believed to aid in wound healing; as the English herbalist John Gerard wrote in 1597: “Dioscorides says that horsetail, pounded and applied, fully heals wounds, even if the tendons are completely severed, as Galen adds.”