Horsetail Herb Extract

Horsetail (also known as paddock-pipes or shave grass) is a fascinating plant that grows extensively on moist waste ground. It is a perennial and native to Europe but can be found in North America and Asia too. Its upright, branched stems have black-toothed sheaths and whorls of spreading green branches. It looks like a green horse’s tail!

The plant has hardly changed since prehistoric times. It belongs to a very primitive family of plants called the Equisetaceae, from which gigantic fossils have been found, dated from the Carboniferous period. The horsetail of today is extremely small in comparison, roughly 50 centimetres or so in height. During Roman antiquity, it was called ‘hair of the Earth' and was used as a tonic and restorative herb.