
Blue flag | Iris versicolor
general characteristics
general characteristics
Common names include blue flag iris, water flag, flag lily, poison flag, blue iris, snake lily. Member of the iris family, Iridaceae.
Blue flag is a native perennial iris of North America, growing in damp meadows and grasslands, along streams and waterways and marshes. It can grow up to around 3 feet high and has beautiful violet blue flowers in the summer, tinged with yellow and white and long sword like flat leaves.
The rhizome (the part used medicinally) creeps horizontally and throws up new flowering plants as it wanders.
harvesting and preparation
harvesting and preparation
The root/rhizome is harvested from plants that are at least a year old and used dried not fresh, as it can be very irritating to the digestive system (when taken internally) and the skin (may produce contact dermatitis). They are gathered in autumn then washed, chopped into smaller pieces and dried out thoroughly before storing in an airtight jar for future use.
If you see blue flag growing near a golf course in America, do not harvest the roots....they are known to absorb very large quantities of herbicides, insecticides and fungicides and other such chemicals and store them away in their roots. They are purposefully planted for this reason (around some courses anyway) to reduce the hazardous effects on the waterways from the 'run off' of the thousands of tonnes of chemicals used to keep American golf courses so artificially 'weed' free.
therapeutic actions and uses
therapeutic actions and uses
dosage and cautions
dosage and cautions
* Larger doses (above the doses stated here) can be quite toxic and be drastically purgative causing evacuation of the bowels, gastro-intestinal irritation and vomiting. This can be useful in certain circumstances such as after ingesting a poison for example.
* Blue flag is often combined with other blood cleansers/alteratives such as dandelion root, burdock root, yellow dock root, red clover and echinacea root in chronic skin conditions, joint disease, some cancers and for deep detoxification.
Tincture of root: 2-4 ml, up to 3 times daily. Start with a few drops 3 times daily in water initially and watch for results until increasing to normal doses.
Dried root as a decoction: 1/2 - 1 teaspoon per cup, 3 times daily. Simmer the teaspoon of herb in just over a mug full of water for 15-20 mins, strain off the liquid and drink.
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