Can Horsetail Be Eaten? A Detailed Guide to Its Medicinal Benefits When Boiled in Water and Its Price Per Jin

The horsetail we often pulled up to play with as kids, also known as pen-holder grass, pen-head grass, air-vent grass, eyebrow grass, earth horsetail, pen shaft, earth ephedra, grass ephedra, wood grass, bone-knitting grass, brow-locking grass and so on, belongs to the same genus as the traditional Chinese medicine horsetail but is a different species, being the whole plant of the Equisetaceae Equisetum plant horsetail. So, can horsetail be eaten? How much is it per jin? What diseases can be treated by boiling it in water?

First of all, horsetail can be eaten, and it is also a Chinese herbal medicine with medicinal value.

[Nature, flavor and meridian entry]Sweet, slightly bitter, neutral.

[Functions and indications]Clears heat, promotes urination, improves eyesight and removes eye opacities, eliminates phlegm and stops coughing. Used for red, swollen and painful eyes, corneal opacities, hepatitis, cough, bronchitis, and urinary tract infections.

1. "Compendium of Materia Medica": Horsetail has the same form and nature as ephedra, so it can also induce sweating and release the flesh, raise and disperse fire stagnation and wind-dampness, and treat various blood diseases of the eyes.

2. "Commentary on the Materia Medica": Horsetail grass primarily treats eye diseases and removes opacities, benefiting the liver and gallbladder to improve eyesight. Its ability to treat accumulations, intestinal wind, stop dysentery, and address incessant menstruation, flooding and spotting, and bleeding hemorrhoids all stem from its function of entering the blood to benefit the liver and gallbladder, because the liver stores blood.

3. "Original Meaning of the Classic of Materia Medica": Horsetail specifically treats wind-heat in the eyes, sudden opacities, and stops tearing, by dispersing wind from the liver and lungs.

4. "Seeking the Truth in Materia Medica": Horsetail, as books say, resembles ephedra in form and quality, and its dispersing and raising action is quite similar, but it is not pungent and hot, and it enters the foot lesser yang gallbladder and foot jue yin liver, where it can disperse wind-heat in the blood aspect of these two meridians, allowing blood to flow upward to the eyes, so it is a key remedy for removing opacities and improving eyesight. It is not like ephedra, which is pungent and drying in nature and specifically opens the defense and interstices to cause profuse sweating.

In summary, horsetail is sweet and bitter in flavor and neutral in nature; it enters the lung and liver meridians; it has the effects of dispersing wind and dissipating heat, releasing the flesh, and removing opacities; it is suitable for cloud-like opacities of the eyes, tearing in the wind, intestinal wind with bloody stool, bloody dysentery, rectal prolapse, malaria, sore throat, and painful swellings. It is generally taken internally as a decoction at a dosage of 5 to 15 grams, and can also be made into pills or powders; if used externally, it can be ground into powder and sprinkled on the affected area.

In clinical use, besides its indications, horsetail grass also has some precautions, such as needing to be used with caution in patients with qi and blood deficiency. In addition, "Commentary on the Materia Medica" also points out that although horsetail grass can treat eye diseases, “for eye diseases caused by anger and summer heat damaging the blood, with sudden red swelling and pain, it is not suitable"; and the statement in "Collected Words on Materia Medica" that “taking too much damages the liver, and it should not be taken for a long time” also deserves great attention. In addition, excessive consumption of horsetail may lead to coagulation dysfunction, pulmonary insufficiency, and so on.

What diseases can horsetail treat when boiled in water?

1. Treating pinkeye: pen-holder grass, lysimachia, four-leaf clover, pearl grass, and pipewort, five qian each. Boil in water and take internally. ("Chongqing Herbal Medicine")

2. Treating blurred vision: pen-holder grass, boil in water to wash and take internally. ("Chongqing Herbal Medicine")

3. Treating acute strangury: horsetail one liang, rock sugar half a liang. Add water, decoct and take. ("Fujian Folk Herbal Medicine")

4. Treating intestinal wind with bloody stool, red and white vaginal discharge, and traumatic injuries: horsetail two qian. Decoct in water and take. ("Hunan Materia Medica")

5. Treating persistent infectious hepatitis: horsetail, star jasmine stem, and Sichuan chinaberry, three qian each; gardenia root and Rabdosia amethystoides, four qian each. Decoct in water and take.

6. Treating hematuria: horsetail, sheep sorrel, and eclipta, five qian each; Chinese loropetalum flower one liang; cogongrass rhizome four liang. Decoct in water and take.

7. Treating pyelonephritis: horsetail, one-package needle, plantain, and dichondra, five qian each; Hedyotis chrysotricha and Glechoma longituba, one liang each. Decoct in water and take. (Formulas 5 and below are from "Common Folk Herbal Medicines of Zhejiang")

People in many places saw the business opportunity in horsetail and began processing it for sale, with the price per jin around a few dozen yuan. Many farmers have turned horsetail from waste into treasure and earned good returns from it.