the burned fumes of the plant to cure headaches (Bear Killer, 
1980; Lame, 1981). 
Cree women were known to use an infusion of Acorus 
Calamus tea for the discomfort of dysmenorrea (Strath, 1903). 
Among the Winnebago, women mixed Sweet Flag (man’ a’ kera’ 
xera) with six other plants in water; when thoroughly mixed, the 
preparation was injected into the bladder with a wing bone 
(Radin, 1923). 
Oklahoma Delaware women used the rhizome to suppress 
menses (Tantaquidgeon, 1942). Menominee women ground the 
rhizome with bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis L.) and pieces 
of cedar wood as a remedy for irregular menstruation (Dens- 
more, 1932). The Blackfoot of western Montana are said to have 
employed Sweet Flag to cause abortion (Johnston, 1970). 
Several tribes have used Sweet Flag as an external medicine. 
The Meskwaki rubbed the plant on burns (Smith, 1928). An 
elderly Sioux rubbed the plant on sores or places where the body 
hurts: “People also put it on an open sore and then bandage it” 
(Left Hand, 1980). An eighty-year-old Sioux woman claimed 
that she relieved the effects of a stroke by rubbing her face witha 
salve of Sweet Flag and grease (Good Shield, 1980). 
Sioux warriors chewed rhizomes to a paste which they 
smeared on their face to prevent fear in the presence of the 
enemy (Gilmore, 1919). But the juice swallowed by the warriors 
was perhaps more important for their needs than the smear of 
facial paste. At the battlefront, descendents of Sioux warriors 
chewed the plant in both World Wars and in the Korean and 
Viet Nam conflicts; it was thought to instil fearlessness and 
enhance endurance (Bear Killer, 1979). A Sioux indicated that 
muskrats are fierce and “afraid of nothing” because the animal 
eats Sweet Flag; thus, the plant would make a man fearless (Bear 
Killer, 1979). 
The Sioux administered Sweet Flag to dogs to make them 
fierce watchdogs. They would give a puppy an infusion of tea 
from a boiled root or spit the masticated root of the plant into 
the puppy’s mouth; after doing this two or three times, the 
puppy would grow up to be “mean” and a good watchdog 
protecting the family (Bear Killer, 1979; Good Shield, 1980). 
242 
