Shi Chang Pu, the rhizome of the species Acorus gramineus and A. tatarinowii, is widely used in traditional chinese medicine. It is closely related to Calamus / Sweetflag (A. calamus) which has somewhat similar medicinal properties.

Shi Chang Pu is used for the treatment of mental disorders (refreshing the mind, helping with memory issues...), it opens the orifices and acts mainly on the heart and stomach meridian. In western and ayurvedic medicine, and probably in every other culture where it is native, it has many more and different uses. It is used against insomnia and melancholy, has antibiotic properties and is used against fevers, asthma, bronchitis and constipation, to name just a few. It also benefits the throat and the voice and many singers or speakers chew on Acorus sp. rhizome before going on stage.

It likes to grow in moist areas. The rhizomes of the plant are widely connected to each other and it is quite a lot of work to divide the plant.

Then the roots are cut off the freshly harvested and washed rhizomes.

For better drying the rhizomes are cut in half with pruning shears.

Then they were placed in the solar herb dryer for around a week until they break with a snap. Depending on the weather this can take shorter or longer.

Seeing this picture I realize that I misspelled the chinese Pinyin name. I will correct that and also add the date.