Sweet Flag - The Healing Qualities Of The Herb Revealed (Part 1)

Sweet flag is an aromatic perennial with strong, thick, prostrate rootstock and many fringed roots. The stem is reddish at the bottom. Yellow-green blossoms are arranged in spadix.

The herb can be found growing in pond, riverside, lakeshore, branch of a river and ditch slope. You should collect sweet flag rootstock starting from the end of summer till late autumn or in April. You should not collect tiny rootstock to avoid the decrease in the supply of the herb. Wash the rootstock under running water, remove roots and leaves, and reduce them to smaller pieces about 15-20 centimeters long. You should cut thick rootstock in half lengthwise, remove damaged areas and air dry the herbs in a warm room. You can dry them in a well-ventilated drying camera, as well, as long as a temperature does not exceed 40 degrees Celsius. If you wish to get peeled herb, you should peel the rootstock before drying.

1. Sweet flag rootstock is said to contain up to 5 percent essential oil consisting of more than 30 different substances, including asarone, various terpenes, sesquiterpenes, aromatic substances and other substances. Rootstock contains also glycosides, bitter substances, tannins, mineral substances, starch, mucilaginous substances and other biologically active substances.
2. The herb has bacteriostatic, digestion improving and fungicide properties.
3. Sweet flag is used as pain-killer. The herb reduces arterial tension and has sedative action. However, it tends to increase the tone of depressed nervous system and facilitate sweating. The plant is used in case of renal diseases, liver diseases, rheumatism and gallbladder diseases. You should use an infusion, decoction and powder made of the herb 3 times a day. One dose of dry rootstock is 1-3 grams of the powder infused with a glass of water. One dose of liquid extract (proportion 1:1 with ethanol at 60 percent concentration) is 1-3 millilitres, but one dose of the tincture (proportion 1:5 with ethanol at 60 percent concentration) is 2-4 millilitres.
4. Mix sweet flag rootstock with ginger rootstock to get a remedy for the treatment of flatulence (gas accumulation in stomach and intestine).
5. Chewing sweet flag rootstock is proven to be of great help when you are trying to quit smoking. It is due to their ability to cause vomiting if you try to resume smoking.
6. Sprinkle the powder over slowly healing wound and trophic ulcer to treat them.
7. Infuse 30-50 grams of the rootstock with 1-1.5 liters of water and boil the tincture. Add the decoction to bath water to treat inflammation of female reproductive organs.

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