SWEET FLAG 393 



Asia, but has become widely diffused by cultivation. It has 

 established itself in England as a wild plant on the edges of lakes 

 and streams. In dry summers large quantities are collected in East 

 Prussia and Galicia. 



The rhizome has long been esteemed as a most valuable medicine 

 in India, whence probably its use spread to Europe. 



FIG. 212. Sweet Flag rhizome. A, upper surface, showing leaf- 

 scars. B, under surface, showing root-scars. Natural size. 



The long, creeping, horizontal rhizome is collected in the autumn, 

 trimmed, cut into pieces 10 cm. or more in length, and dried. 

 Sometimes it is partially deprived of the outer cork layer by peeling 

 or scraping ; but this is inadvisable, as the peeled rhizomes yield less 

 volatile oil than the unpeeled. 



Description. The rhizome commonly occurs in pieces varying 

 from 5 to 15 cm. or more in length and from 1 to 2 cm. in thickness. 

 They are covered with a thin brownish cork and are much shrunken 

 bearing deep longitudinal wrinkles. They are marked on the upper 



