Air refers to perennial herbaceous plants. The adult plant reaches a height of about 120 cm, has a flattened stalk with a one-sided sharp rib, pointed xiphoid leaves and small green flowers, collected in the cob.
Only calamus roots have healing properties. By the way, the rhizome of this plant is branched, which allows you to collect a lot of raw materials. The main place of its growth is swamps, banks of rivers and lakes, meadows.
How to collect and store calamus roots
As already mentioned, only the root of the plant is endowed with healing properties. Harvesting usually falls in the fall (September-October). This period is characterized by a decrease in the water level in water bodies, which greatly facilitates the process. During the collection, the plant is dug up completely, the root is cleaned of silt and earth, separated from the stem and subordinate roots and washed. The cleaned and dried root is cut into pieces of 10-20 cm and left in a ventilated room (not in direct sunlight) for a while. When the raw material is slightly dried up, it is peeled and dried, decomposed as thin as possible. Recall that sun rays should not fall on the roots of calamus , and air must constantly circulate in the room. Ready-made medical raw materials are stored in canvas or paper bags.
Calamus root: medicinal properties
Its healing properties have been known for a long time. Our great-grandfathers also prepared alcohol tinctures and infusions from its roots for the treatment of the stomach and nervous system, as well as powders for external use in inflammatory processes. Calamus roots contain tannins, esters, acarin, ascorbic acid, calamine alkaloid, starch. Thanks to its rich composition, it is successfully used to treat inflammation (both internal and external), stomach and duodenal ulcers, diarrhea and other digestive disorders. Also, funds with this root contribute to the elimination of kidney stones and increase appetite. Does calamus root have side effects? Reviews of hypotonics suggest that it should be used with caution: it helps to reduce pressure. It is also not recommended to use it for a long time: it contains a small amount of b-azarone, which tend to accumulate in the body and adversely affect some organs and even systems.
Recipes using calamus root
- With bowel disease, it is quite effective to treat with a decoction of rice (2 tablespoons) and calamus root (10 g). To prepare rice groats and chopped calamus root, pour 400 ml of cold water (2 cups) and boil for 20 minutes. Cooled and filtered broth is drunk instead of food at least 3 times a day. The general course of treatment is 2 days.
- To prepare a healing infusion, 3 parts of dried rowan fruits and 1 part of crushed calamus root are taken. One teaspoon of this raw material is poured into a glass of water, insisted for an hour, and then brought to a boil, insisted and cooled. This miracle remedy should be taken half a glass three times a day before meals.
- Calamus roots are useful for inflammation of the gums and oral cavity. In such cases, infusion is prepared from a teaspoon of raw materials and 1.5 glasses of boiling water. The raw material is infused for 2 hours, and immediately before rinsing, it is heated.
- To treat cough and even tuberculosis, air vodka is prepared: the roots (50 g) are insisted on alcohol (0.5 l). Before use, the mixture is diluted with warm water so that it is not so strong. You need to drink vodka no more than once a day, but this is enough to improve the patient's condition.
- Outwardly, calamus root is used along with hop cones and burdock root to rinse hair prone to hair loss.