Name: calamus marsh – calamus trostinovy (veterinary practice)
Calamus marsh – ACORUS CALAMUS L.
Popular names: birch root, flat cake, Tatar potion, sweet calamus, yavar, ploshnik.
Botanical characteristic. Aroid family. A perennial herbaceous plant with a thick branched (up to 3 cm in diameter), white spongy rhizome inside, which takes root in silty soil with the help of numerous thin roots. From the plane, the rhizome is brownish-yellow or greenish-yellow. Stem triangular, straight, up to 1 m tall. The leaves extend from the rhizome, linear-xiphoid, two-row (Fig. 1). The flowers are small, greenish-yellow. Blooms in June – July. In the conditions of our country, the fruits do not ripen, as a result of which the plant reproduces vegetatively (by rhizomes). The whole plant is fragrant and spicy-bitter in taste.
Spreading. It grows in low wetlands within ponds, in slow-flowing waters, along rivers and streams in the forest and steppe zones of the European part of the USSR, in Western and Eastern Siberia, in the Far East and in other areas, including the Urals.
Medicinal raw materials. Use rhizomes, which are harvested in late autumn – early winter, when the level of water bodies decreases. At this time, they are most easily removed from the silt with a shovel, rake or pitchfork. Rhizomes are freed from roots and stems, washed well in water and dried in the open air. Then they are cut into pieces 15-20 cm long (the thickest ones are also divided lengthwise into two parts) and dried at a temperature not exceeding 30 ° C. Well-dried rhizomes do not bend, but break, at the break they have a whitish-pink color, sometimes with a yellow or greenish tint. The storage period is up to 2 years.
Chemical composition. The rhizome contains up to 5% essential oil, which includes monocyclic terpenes (a-pinene, D-camphene, D-camphor, borneol), bitter glycoside acorin, ascorbic and palmitic acids, tannins, gum, resins, phytoncides, starch and others
pharmacological properties. A decoction of calamus roots has the ability to increase the excitability of the end of the taste nerves of the oral cavity and thereby reflexively increase the secretion of gastric juice, increase the secretion of hydrochloric acid in the stomach, especially if the secretion of gastric juice has been reduced. In addition, it increases the biliary function of the liver, increases the tone of the gallbladder and increases diuresis. Calamus extract has a calming and analgesic effect, lowers blood pressure.
Application.Calamus is used in the form of a decoction, tincture, extract, powder. As an aromatic bitterness, it is prescribed to stimulate appetite, to enhance the contractile function of the muscles of the stomach and intestines during their atony. Calamus is a good anti-inflammatory agent for diarrhea of various origins, kidney diseases, and flatulence. Calamus is part of the products vikalin and vikaira, used for peptic ulcer of the stomach and duodenum, with gastritis with high acidity. It is also included in bitters (60 parts of centaury herb, 60 parts of shamrock leaves, 30 parts of calamus rhizome, 30 parts of wormwood herb and 15 parts of mandarin peel). Tincture on 40% alcohol is prepared by percolation. Alcohol is taken in such a way as to get 1 liter of tincture. It is used to improve appetite and digestion.Doses inside: horses 1-3 ml, cattle 2-8, sheep 0.3-2, pigs and dogs 0.2-0.5 ml.
Outwardly, a decoction or infusion of calamus is recommended for the treatment of festering wounds and ulcers. The effectiveness of their use is due to the presence of phytoncides, which have pronounced antiseptic properties.
Doses of rhizome inside: cattle 15-50 g, horses 10-30, small cattle 5-10, pigs 2-8, dogs 0.5-2 g.
Horses
Rp.: bitter tincture 10.0
DS 1/2 teaspoon in 0.5 liters of water orally before feeding (to increase appetite).
A pig
Rp.: Decoction of the root of the reed 10.0-200.0
DS 1/2 cup before meals to increase appetite.