Importance of horsetails in human life, their role in nature

Horsetails and mushrooms are found in any natural community. An obligatory condition for their growth is the high humidity of the soils. Therefore, on the banks of reservoirs, in marshes, in moist meadows and in forests, the mice as well as the horsetails can predominate among other herbaceous vegetation. And what is the significance of horsetails in human life and how did people learn to use this group of plants?

Features of horsetails

Modern species of this plant have very modest dimensions. Growing in the temperate latitudes of the northern hemisphere, the horsetails reach a height of sixty centimeters to one meter. The species inhabiting regions with a tropical climate, of course, are large.

Horsetails are difficult to confuse with other herbaceous plants. Their shoots consist of internodes and knots, due to which a peculiar stem, consisting of segments, grows. It is intended to perform the main function in the life of the plant - photosynthesis.

The articulated structure has also an underground part of horsetails. The rhizome easily breaks down in the part where the nodes are located, giving birth to young shoots. It is for this reason that horsetails quickly populate areas in which favorable conditions exist for their growth.

In addition to the vegetative mode of reproduction, plants are able to spread spores. The escape, on which they ripen, appears only once - in the spring.
In all cells of the plant body, silica accumulates, so that horsetails avoid mechanical damage. The plant is not eaten by insects, mollusks, or vertebrates. At first glance it may seem that the value of horsetails in human life is also small. But, it turns out, this is not so.

From the past plants

The forests of the Carboniferous period mainly consisted of giant plains, ferns and horsetail plants. It was thanks to them that the primary layers of soil began to form. This is a special education, without which further life on the planet could not have modern forms.

The importance of horsetails in human life and in nature is very large. These green giants at one time performed work to saturate the Earth's atmosphere with oxygen. From its sufficient content in the air, and today the life of all beings of the planet depends.

The importance of horsetails and plaunas in human life can be understood if one knows what a mineral like coal is, is also a product of the vital activity of these plants. Deposits of valuable fuel are found precisely in those places where horsetails, plaunas, ferns that had in those distant times not only herbaceous but also tree-like forms rioted billions of years ago.

Horsetails in human life

The species of these plants, being representatives of the modern fauna, are mainly defined by man as weeds that have toxic properties. It is known that in pastures where horsetails are encountered, cases of poisoning of domestic animals by this plant are possible.

Its accidental use can lead to death. For this reason, hay meadows, where the horsetail began to settle, gradually cease to be used for their intended purpose.

Today, the importance of horsetails in human life is quite important only in the field of pharmacology. The plant is used in the manufacture of diuretics and hemostatic drugs. Traditional healers also find a wide use of horsetail.

Types of horsetails

The evolutionary path that passed the horsetails is very long. The proven fact is that this is one of the oldest plants on Earth. Today there are several of its species - meadow, field, forest, wintering, marsh, riverine. Only a small number of species can be added to this list.

Sometimes in modern classification, all horsetails are divided into two groups. The first includes forest, riverine, meadow, marsh, field. The second group includes branched, polychaete, cumulus, wintering.

Modern studies of the properties of horsetail

The study of the chemical composition of plants in both groups and the search for the possibility of their use is the main task of scientists. Studies are conducted not only in a laboratory way, but also through experiments and observations in nature.
Now it is proved that horsetails belonging to the second group have high fodder qualities. The same can be said about some species of plants of the first group. They are eaten by cattle, boars, deer, horses.

It turns out that under the influence of certain temperatures, the percentage and composition of the chemical elements of plant parts change. In connection with the latest scientific data, it becomes necessary to re-evaluate the importance of horsetail in human life, as its use in the near future can become much broader.