Brzeziny, near Łódź

It grows in India, central Asia, southern Russia and Siberia, Europe and North America. Edible plant - the rhizome is candied and made into a sweetmeat or treat as palatable vegetable when roasted; young leaves cooked; the inner portion of young stems is eaten raw, it makes a very palatable salad. Herbal plant - of wide use especially in Ayurvedic medicine; the root is anodyne, aphrodisiac, aromatic, carminative, diaphoretic, emmenagogue, expectorant, febrifuge, hallucinogenic, hypotensive, sedative, stimulant, stomachic, mildly tonic and vermifuge, used internally in the treatment of digestive complaints, bronchitis, sinusitis; if the dose is too large it will cause nausea and vomiting (!); chewing the root is also said to kill the taste for tobacco (!); is also used externally to treat skin eruptions, rheumatic pains and neuralgia. Useful plant - the leaves are used in basket making or woven into mats, they have also been used as a thatch for roofs; an essential oil from the rhizome is used in perfumery and as a food flavouring.