Horsetail

What is Horsetail?

Horsetail (Equisetum arvense) is a perennial plant and one of the oldest surviving plant species on Earth, with fossil records dating back over 350 million years — long before flowering plants appeared. Also known as field horsetail or shavegrass, it grows across Europe, Asia and North America, usually in damp, sandy soils. The plant's name comes from its distinctive appearance: a fertile, spore-bearing stem that resembles a horse's tail, followed later in the season by green vegetative stems.

Like bamboo, horsetail can accumulate silicon dioxide in its tissues, taken up from the soil and deposited in the plant's structure. Nutri-Leaf uses horsetail herb powder — the dried and milled herb — as one of four plant extracts in the Skin Hair & Nails formula.

Silica in plants

Silicon dioxide is a natural component of plant tissues and has no Nutrient Reference Value (NRV) under current EU regulations. No nutrient-function claim is authorised for silica, and none appears on our labels. We include horsetail as a botanical ingredient with a long tradition — stated as an ingredient fact, without benefit claims attached.

Traditional use

Horsetail has a long tradition of use in European herbal medicine, recorded in herbals across several centuries. That history is part of why the plant is familiar to consumers, but tradition is not the standard a supplement label must meet: the EU rules that govern claims apply unchanged. For horsetail, no benefit claim is authorised, and we make none.

Why we use Horsetail in Nutri-Leaf formulas

Nutri-Leaf Skin Hair & Nails includes horsetail herb powder as one of four complementary plant extracts alongside bamboo shoots extract, millet seed extract and nettle leaf extract. The plant extracts complement the vitamin and mineral content of the formula; the benefits described on the label come exclusively from the authorised nutrients: biotin contributes to the maintenance of normal hair and normal skin, zinc contributes to the maintenance of normal hair, skin and nails, copper contributes to normal skin and hair pigmentation, vitamin C contributes to normal collagen formation for the normal function of skin, and vitamin B12 contributes to normal energy-yielding metabolism.

Products containing Horsetail

The Nutri-Leaf product featuring horsetail is Skin Hair & Nails, manufactured at our FSSC 22000 certified facility in Germany with a plant-based HPMC capsule shell.

Read the Beauty from Within guide for the nutrient side of hair, skin and nail nutrition, and the Ingredient Philosophy page for how we select botanical ingredients.

Food supplements should not be used as a substitute for a varied and balanced diet and a healthy lifestyle.