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5/17/11

Chemical Properties of the Horsetail Herb

Before using medicinal herbs, I try to research their properties.

I came across information about chemicals in Equisetum arvense L. (Equisetaceae) -- Field Horsetail or the Horsetail herb from this internet source at this link:

Dr. Duke's Phytochemical & Ethnopbotanical Database 

3-METHOXY-PYRIDINE Plant
ACONITIC-ACID Plant
ALUMINUM Plant 378 ppm
ARTICULATIN Plant
ASCORBIC-ACID Plant 208 - 7,937 ppm 
ASH Plant 7,000 - 242,000 ppm 
BETA-CAROTENE Plant 3 - 50 ppm 
BETA-SITOSTEROL Plant
CAFFEIC-ACID Plant
CALCIUM Plant 580 - 24,000 ppm 
CAMPESTEROL Plant
CARBOHYDRATES Plant 44,000 - 737,000 ppm 
CHOLESTEROL Plant
CHROMIUM Plant 22 ppm
COBALT Plant 53 ppm
DELTA-5,8,11,14-EICOSATETRAENIC-ACID Plant
DELTA-7,10,13-HEXADECATRIENIC-ACID Plant
DELTA-8,11,14-EICOSATRIENIC-ACID Plant
DELTA-9,12,15-OCTADECATRIENIC-ACID Plant
DIHYDROKAEMPFEROL Plant
DIHYDROQUERCETIN Plant
DIMETHYL-SULFONE Plant
EQUISETINE Plant
EQUISETONIN Plant 50,000 ppm
EQUISETRIN Plant
EQUISETROSIDE Plant
FAT Plant 2,000 - 32,000 ppm
FERULIC-ACID Plant
FIBER Plant 71,000 - 235,000 ppm 
FLAVONOIDS Plant 2,700 - 5,100 ppm 
GALLIC-ACID Plant
GALUTEOLIN Plant
GOSSYPITRIN Plant
HERBACETRIN Plant
IRON Plant 698 - 1,230 ppm 
ISOFUCOSTEROL Plant
ISOQUERCITRIN Plant
ISOQUERCITROSIDE Plant 600 - 2,000 ppm
KAEMPFEROL Plant
KAEMPFEROL-7-DIGLUCOSIDE Plant
KILOCALORIES Plant 200 - 3,170 /kg
LUTEOLIN Plant
LUTEOLIN-5-GLUCOSIDE Plant
MAGNESIUM Plant 4,370 ppm
MALIC-ACID Plant
MANGANESE Plant 69 ppm
NARINGENIN Plant
NIACIN Plant
NICOTINE Plant 0.4 ppm
OXALIC-ACID Plant
P-COUMARIC-ACID Plant
P-HYDROXY-BENZOIC-ACID Plant
PALUSTRINE Plant
PALUSTRININE Plant
PHENOLIC-ACIDS Plant 5,000 - 8,000 ppm 
PHOSPHORUS Plant 930 - 14,762 ppm 
POTASIUM-CHLORIDE Plant 15,000 ppm
POTASSIUM Plant 13,000 - 18,000 ppm 
PROTEIN Plant 10,000 - 114,000 ppm 
RHODOXANTHIN Plant
RIBOFLAVIN Plant 0.7 - 1.9 ppm
SELENIUM Plant
SILICA Plant 60,000 - 97,000 ppm
SILICIC-ACID Plant 50,000 - 80,000 ppm
SILICON Plant 386 ppm
SODIUM Plant 560 ppm
TANNIC-ACID Plant
THIAMIN Plant
THIAMINASE Plant
THYMINE Plant
TIN Plant 14 ppm
VANILLIC-ACID Plant 
WATER Plant 786,000 - 937,000 ppm 
ZINC Plant


ppm = parts per million
tr = trace


His website carries this disclaimer:


Disclaimer


The books his website references for the above information are:


Duke, James A. 1992. Handbook of phytochemical constituents of GRAS herbs and other economic plants. Boca Raton, FL. CRC Press.

The information above he has published on the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture website.


Next to the Tobacco plant, Field Horsetail is the herb containing the highest amount of Nicotine -- which is a very small amount compared to tobacco:

Tobacco contains: 20,000 - 40,000 ppm Nicotine in Leaf


Field Horsetail contains: 0.4 ppm Nicotine in Plant

By no means is this one resource exhaustive for providing information about the chemical properties of the horsetail herb.  It is just one resource I found interesting.