Common Stork - Acorns calamus. Aroid family - Agaseae.
Ir is a watery paradise grass... Its root is reddish on the outside, white on the inside, a finger thick, light, composed of many crannogs, covered with fibers, and has a piercing and deliberately pleasant odor.
An antique 18th century herbalist.
The plant is a perennial herbaceous plant with a flattened stem and long (up to 100-120 cm) bright green, sword-like leaves emerging in bunches from the growing points of the rhizomes of the aira rhizomes (Fig. 1). The aira plant blooms from late May through mid-July. The flower stalk of aire grass is three-angled and flattened with an inflorescence (cob) at the end, wrapped at the base by a covering leaf. The inflorescence of the aire grass has many small, unsightly yellow-green florets. This may be why the aira plant was named Acorns, which translates to "ugly", "unadorned", and Acorns calamus as "ugly cane". Aire grass is also known as fragrant cane.
The rhizome of the aira plant is long, creeping, sinuous, up to 3 cm thick. The aira rhizome is brown on top and white with a pink tinge on the inside. Aira rhizome tastes bitter-bitter with a strong pleasant odor. So there's also this
:fig1:
interpretation of the generic name of the aira plant: the Latin Acorus is close in sound to the Greek akoron, meaning "fragrant".
The medicinal raw material of ayre herb is the rhizomes of the plant. Their yields reach 200-1200 g/m2. One rhizome of ayre annually adds 10-70 g in weight
The aira grass is a coastal aquatic plant. It is usually found in shallow waters with slow-flowing and standing water, in waterlogged valleys of rivers and lakes, in plavnyas, creeks, along the bottoms of wet gullies. There are especially large reserves of the aira plant along the Dnieper, Donets and Southern Bug. Natural thickets of the aira plant are also frequent in the Baltic States, in the middle and southern regions of Europe, in the Volga delta, and in the Kuban plains. In the Asian part of our country it is concentrated in the southern taiga and in the Far East. But the demand for the raw material of the aira plant exceeds the natural supply, much less the harvesting of the aira herb. Therefore, in some countries, the aira plant is cultivated by burying pieces of aira grass rhizomes in moist soil.
In Europe, the aira plant appeared relatively recently: around the XIV century. Apparently, it was brought by the Tatars, who in their nomads always took rhizomes of the aira plant with them and threw them into all the water bodies they encountered. They believed that if the aira grass took root, the water was drinkable. It is not without reason that the synonym of the herb aira is Tatar potion. In the sixteenth century. The aira plant was already known in Germany, where candied rhizomes of the aira herb were considered a delicacy. And earlier, in the 15th century.The aira plant was known in Ukraine, Poland and Lithuania. The original homeland of the aira plant is India. Maybe that's why we have aira grass blooms very rarely, but in India - always, setting juicy red berries.
Studies have shown that in the rhizomes of aira grass there are many essential oils, there is a bitter glycoside akorin, fragrant calamus oil, alkaloid calamine, starch, resins, gum, tannins, and in the leaves and rhizomes - vitamin C (especially a lot of it in the leaves of aira grass). The odor carrier of the rhizomes of the aira plant is azorine aldehyde, the active ingredient is calamine.
The aira plant as a medicinal herb has been known since antiquity, especially in China and India. Physicians of ancient Rome, such as Dioscorides and Galen, also knew about the therapeutic properties of the herb aira. And in the sixteenth century. German apothecaries were already selling several quintals of the root of the aira plant. In many countries, aira herbs are included in the official pharmacopoeia. The bitter essential oil and açorin are believed to increase appetite; this increases the secretion of gastric juice, improves digestion, and reduces stomachaches.
Used herbs of aira and in peptic ulcer disease of the stomach and duodenum; plant aira is effective in gastric diseases, especially with low acidity of gastric juice. There are reports that helps plant aira for kidney colic; used as a choleretic and diuretic. With its bitter taste, the aira plant reflexively stimulates gastric secretion and increases appetite. The rhizome of the aira plant is included in many stomach and appetizer teas. The alcoholic extract of the aira plant has soothing and analgesic properties.
The plant of aira is used in the form of infusions, tinctures, powders. Extracts from the herb of aira are included in a number of medicines: in the tablets Vicair, Vicalin, Ultox, as part of the complex remedy Enatin. Azarone essential oil acts like aminazine, enhancing the effects of a number of sleeping pills. Used aira grass and in veterinary medicine as a tonic for stomach and intestinal colic.
The plant of aira has long been popular in folk medicine. The herb is known as an analgesic, wound-healing, disinfectant; it is also used for allergies, gout, gum inflammation, malaria, hysteria, in the treatment of boils, coughs, stomach ailments, and many others. et al. Especially popular in Chinese and Tibetan medicine, where it is recommended as a tonic, antipyretic, for the treatment of rheumatism, skin diseases, hearing, vision, and is used in bronchitis, pneumonia, neuroses, mental disorders. Baths scented with the aira plant have a calming effect on the nervous system. Tibetan medicine recommends: "For colic of the small intestine, make a compress of boron multifoliolate and aira grass with snow water. Mustard, herb of aira, rock salt when rubbed in remove freckles, rowans, pimples from the face."
It's not just the medicinal properties of the aira plant that are known. The herb airah is an ancient spice that rivals the bay leaf. Essential oils of the aira plant have found extensive use in perfumery for fragrancing soaps and creams. In the food industry, the aira herb is used to flavor beer and fruit waters. The candied rhizome of the aira plant replaces ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg, which are rare in our country. In Ukraine, from the rhizomes of the aira plant brew compotes and jams. The herbs of aira are also used for tanning leather, for dyeing. The leaves of aira grass are used to caulk tubs, tubs. Aira grass is also known as an insecticide against flies and mosquitoes. The plant is readily eaten by muskrats, beavers, and moose..
