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Family • Equisetaceae
Putod
Equisetum ramosissimum Desf.
BRANCHED HORSETAIL

Scientific names  Common names 
Equisetum ramosissimum Desf, Putod, sumbok (Buk.)
Equisetum elongatum Willd, Puputod (Ig.) 
Equisetum ramosum DC, Pututud (Ig.)
Hippochaete ramosissima (Desf.) Bomer. Sumbok (Buk.) 
Equisetum debile Roxb. ? Branched horsetail (Engl.) 
  Branched scouring brush (Engl.) 
Quisumbing's compilation lists Equisetum debile (sumbak) and E. ramosissimum (putod) as separate species. Other compilations list them as specie synonyms.

Other vernacular names
INDONESIA: Bibitungan, Rumput betung, Tropogan.
PAPUA NEW GUINEA: Niglgakagl
SPANISH: Cola de caballo, Equiseto.
THAILAND: Ya nguak, Ya thot bong, Ya hu nuak.
VIETNAM: C[or] d[oos]t.




Botany
Putod is a perennial herbs, with jointed and branched rootstock. Roots are in whorls from the nodes.
Stem is hollow and noding, the length of the internode 2 to 6 centimeters with longitudinal striations at the surface. Leaves are obsolete, reduced to scales around the node. Cones (strobili) are oblong, green-yellow in color depending on maturity, terminal or spirally borne on the tip of the stem.

The species differs from Equisetum debile in that the fertile stems are much branched, and are grooved and rough.

Distribution
Probably widely distributed throughout the Philippines at medium, to high altitudes (about 1,000 to 6,000 ft above sea level). Usually found along exposed stream embankments on sandy to stony soil. Easily overlooked because it blends with grassy landscape. Easily grown in ordinary garden soil.

Parts utilized:
· Stem.
· Collected year round.
· Rinse, cut into pieces, and dry under the sun.

Properties
- Sweet and slightly bitter tasting.
- Cleanses the liver and clears the eyesight.
- Diuretic and astringent.

Uses
 Folkloric
• Hypertension, reddening and swelling pain in the eye, pterygium of the cornea.
• Used for diarrhea, jaunditic hepatitis, and renal lithiasis.
• Dosage: 15 to 30 gms of dried material in decoction.
• In China, decoction of whole plant used from wounds and ulcers. Also, used as antitussive and diuretic.
• In India, used as cooling medicine for gonorrhea.

Studies
• Antioxidant: Study on scavenger activities of three equisetum species, including E ramosissimum, showed E telmatela to have the most scavenger and antioxidant activity.
• Diuretic / Toxicity / CNS Depressive Activity: An ethanol extract administered to Swiss albino mice showed moderate level of toxicity and central nervous depressive properties. The ethanol extract also exhibited an interesting diuretic activity in male Sprague-Daley rats when administered orally and intraperitoneally.

Availability
Wild-crafted. 


Last Update December 2012
Photo © Godofredo Stuart / StuartXchange
OTHER IMAGE SOURCE: Equisetum ramosissimum / Hippolyte Coste - Flore descriptive et illustrée de la France, de la Corse et des contrées limitrophes, 1901-1906 / Public Domain / alterVISTA
OTHER IMAGE SOURCE: Photo / File:Equisetum ramosissimum4.JPG / 21 May 2007 / Petr Filippov Bibiloni / Zidenice, Czech Republic / Creative Commons Attribution / Wikimedia Commons / Or click on image to go to source page

Additional Sources and Suggested Readings
(1)
Free radical scavenging activity of three Equisetum species from Fruska gora mountain / Fitoterapia / 2006, vol. 77, no7-8, pp. 601-60
(2)
A Review on the Potential Uses of Ferns / M Mannar Mannan, M Maridass and B Victor / Ethnobotanical Leaflets 12: 281-285. 2008.
(3)
Equisetum ramosissimum Desf. / Vernacular names / GLOBinMED
(4)
Toxicity and diuretic activity of an ethanol extract of Equisetum ramosissimum D. / E. Navarro / La Laguna University, Pharmacology 38071, Spain

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