Where the ponytail is found, how this type of herb is used to prepare a decoction, useful in many situations thanks to its healing properties capable of bringing significant benefits also as herbal tea.
What is the ponytail for?
Grass belonging to the Equisetaceae family, the ponytail is widespread in Italy, with the exception of Sardinia, easily found in damp soils, along ditches and roads.
The plant has an underground stem, long and dark, with many tubercles, moreover it emits in the spring period of fertile cauli about fifteen centimeters high, divided into many knots that make them appear with an articulated aspect, having on the apex an ear containing the spores, without however being branched.
Subsequently, they are replaced by further sterile, green branches, having a height of about 30 centimeters.
The characteristic of these fustincini is that of having inserted, in each node, a certain quantity of twigs arranged like the spokes of a bicycle wheel and also divided, in turn, in many knots.
About the properties, it must be said that the ponytail is a powerful diuretic, in fact its decoction proportionally raises the urinary secretion.
It acts very positively in the retention of urine, in the inflammation of the bladder, in the kidney, also has a calming action for the pains of the kidney and urinary tract.
It has been shown that the juice of the fresh plant exerts an energetic and immediate hemostatic action, ideal for bleeding related to the nose, lungs and uterus.
Authoritative doctors recognize the usefulness of the ponytail in the treatment of tuberculosis.
Externally the decoction can be used with beneficial effects to gargle, as well as to treat sore throat, bruises and dermatological diseases.
In severe epitaxis it must be aspirated lukewarm.
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The ponytail must be collected in the spring and summer, selecting only the chlorophyll-rich cauli, to be dried in a shady place.
Since the active ingredients are long-life, the preparation of a family escort is feasible and does not present any difficulties.
About the preparation of a decoction, this is obtained by boiling thirty grams of the dried plant in half a liter of water for half an hour.
The ponytail decoction must be taken, three times within twenty-four hours, as a hemostatic and diuretic.
As a remineralizer, two grams of powder can be taken, obtained by pounding the dry plant with the help of a mortar.
For tablets and gargles, the decoction is prepared by boiling 1 kg of fresh plant per liter of water.
