Iris versicolor

Blue Flag

by William Boericke — Pocket Manual of Homoeopathic Materia Medica & Repertory

Historical reference for practitioners and students. The statements below reflect the named author’s homeopathic teaching and do not establish treatment effectiveness. This text is not medical advice and must not replace appropriate diagnosis or care.

Thyroid, pancreas , salivary, intestinal glands, and gastro-intestinal mucous membrane, are especially affected. Increases the flow of bile. Sick headaches and cholera morbus are a special therapeutic field for its action.

Head

Frontal headache, with nausea. Scalp feels constricted. Right temples especially affected. Sick headache, worse rest; begins with a blur before eyes, after relaxing from a mental strain. Pustular eruption on scalp.

Ears

Roaring, buzzing, ringing in ears, with deafness. Aural vertigo, with intense noises in ears.

Face

Neuralgia after breakfast, beginning in infra-orbital nerve, and involving whole face.

Throat

Mouth and tongue feel scalded. Heat and smarting in throat. Burning . Profuse flow of saliva; ropy. Goitre .

Stomach

Burning of whole alimentary canal. Vomiting , sour bloody, biliary. Nausea. Profuse flow of saliva ( Merc; Ipec; Kali iod ). Deficient appetite .

Abdomen

Liver sore. Cutting pain. Flatulent colic. Diarrhœa; stools watery, with burning at anus and through intestinal canal. Periodical night diarrhœa, with pain and green discharges. Constipation (give 30th)

Extremities

Shifting pains. Sciatica, as if left hip-joint were wrenched. Pain extends to popliteal space. Gonorrhœal rheumatism (use Irisin ).

Skin

Herpes zoster, associated with gastric derangements. Pustular eruptions. Psoriasis; irregular patches with shining scales. Eczema, with nightly itching.

Modalities

Worse , in evening and at night, from rest. Better , from continued motion.

Relationship

Antidote: Nux .

Compare: Iris florentina -Orris-root--(delirium, convulsions, and paralysis); Iris factissima (headache and hernia); Iris germanica -Blue Garden Iris--(dropsy and freckles); Iris tenax-I. minor --(dry mouth; deathly sensation at point of stomach, pain in ileo-cæcal region ; appendicitis. Pain from adhesions after). Pancreatinum -a combination of several enzymes--(Indicated in intestinal indigestion; pain an hour or more after eating. Lienteric diarrhœa. Dose. 3-5 grains, better not given during the active period of stomachic digestion). Pepsinum --(Imperfect digestion with pain in gastric region. Marasmus of children who are fed on artificial foods. Diarrhœa due to indigestion. Dose. 3-4 grains) (Diseases of pancreas, gout, diabetes); Ipec; Podoph; Sanguin; Ars; Ant cr .

Dose

Tincture to thirtieth potency. Favorable reports from the very highest potencies.

Iris versicolor across the other classic books

Iris versicolor appears in 11 of the 21 classic books on Similia. Each was written to do a different job — here is what each adds on this remedy, with the opening of its entry.

Allen TF — A compiled symptom record drawing on proving reports and other named observations.
“Iris versicolor, Linn. Natural order , Iridaceæ. Common name , Blue Flag. Authorities. Note: Probably the mongrel so-called resinoid, there being no alkaloids known to exist in the natural order Iridaceæ. -T. F. A.; repeated doses of 1st dec. trit. to 20 grains of crude; 6 , Dr. William A. Holcombe, proving with 2 or…”
Boger (GA) — Which general headings this remedy belongs under — the analytical scaffolding.
“ALTERNATING EFFECTS, sides, states, etc.(Comp. Periodicity, Wandering, Waves). BURNT, SCALDED AS IF COATED FEELING GREASY, oily, fatty LYING, right, Agg. MIGRAINE NERVE PAIN SEASON, Summer, hot weather SIDE, Right YELLOW 3 A.M.”
Boger (Syn) — Generals and modalities in a short analytical portrait rather than a symptom list.
“GLANDS: DIGESTIVE TRACT. LIVER. Pancreas. Right side. Nerves. Periodically: Weekly. 2-3 A.M. Spring and fall. After midnight. Mental exhaustion. Hot weather. Gentle motion. Affections accompanied by rapid elimination. Sour, acrid, BURNING excretions. Oily nose, greasy taste and fatty stool. …”
Clarke — The widest entry — sources, provings, clinical uses, relationships and antidotes in one place.
“Iris hexagona. Blue flag. N. O. Iridaceæ. Tincture of fresh root collected in early spring or autumn. Trituration of the resinoid, Iridin or Irisin. Anus, fissure of / Bilious attack / Constipation / Crusta lactea / Diabetes / (pancreatic) / Diarrhœa / Dysentery / Dysmenorrhœa / Dyspepsia / Eczema / Fistula /…”
Guernsey — The leading characteristics — a compact bridge from repertory result to remedy study.
“Very sick headaches, with vomiting of a sweetish substance; in some fevers where there is great stomach derangement and great prostration.”
Hale — The introduction story — early pathogenetic and clinical evidence for medicines new to Hale's generation.
“{Blue Flag.) Description. — An indigenous plant, with a fleshy, horizontal, fibrous root, or rhizoma. It is common throughout the United States, growing in moist places, and presenting blue or purple flowers from May to July. The root resembles that of Acorus calamus (sweet-flag). It has a peculiar odor, augmented by…”
Hering — Graded symptoms, each weighted by how often provers and practice confirmed it.
“Blue Flag. Iridaceæ. Provings by Rowland, Burt, Holcombe, Berridge, Croker, Wesselhœft, etc. See Allen's Encyclopædia, vol. 5, p. 153 . CLINICAL AUTHORITIES. Headache , Palmer, Raue's Rec., 1871, p. 179 ; Warren, A. H. O., vol. 1, p. 109 ; Sick headache , Kitchen, N. A. J. H., vol. 1, p. 464 ; Williamson, Raue's Rec…”
Hughes & Dake — The source evidence — provings and poisonings retained with their experimental context.
“Iris vers(colort L. Blue flag. Nat. Ord., IrUatete. I. Provings, — I. a. Dr. W, A. BuRT, May 15th, 1865, took 3 gr, of green root at 3 and 8 p.m. No effect, save locally from acridity of substance, and an unwonted emission at n. with amorous dreams. 1 6th. — Mouth and tongue feel as if they had been scalded; natural…”
Lippe (MM) — The strict Hahnemannian reading — the symptom picture without clinical interpretation.
“Low-spirited; discouraged. Fear of an approaching illness. Fulness in and heaviness of the head. Head and face are cold. Headache (temples and eyes), with distressing vomiting (of a sweetish mucus, occasionally with a trace of bile). Sensation of constriction around the forehead (when trying to cough). Stitches in the…”
Nash — The comparisons — the remedy set beside the ones it is most often confused with.
“Burning of mouth, tongue, throat, clear down into stomach, and of anus if there is diarrhoea. Vomiting of stringy, glairy, ropy mucus; hangs in strings down to receptacle on the floor. Gastric or hepatic sick headaches with blur before the eyes at the beginning. Vomiting sour, or bitter. Iris is another remedy which…”

Iris versicolor in Kent's Repertory

Kent's Repertory lists Iris versicolor in 723 rubrics. These are the ones where it carries the highest grade — the symptoms Kent treated as most characteristic. Most of them sit in EXTREMITIES (124), HEAD (122), STOMACH (66), ABDOMEN (51), RECTUM (41).

ABDOMEN - ERUPTIONS - herpes - zona - right side
HEAD - PAIN, - Sides,one side - right - blurred vision before the attack
VISION - BLURRED - headache,before
VISION - DIM - headache, - before
RECTUM - DIARRHOEA - autumn,in
HEAD - PAIN, - vomiting
HEAD - PAIN, - blinding
VISION - DIM - headache, - during
STOMACH - VOMITING - bile - headache,with
RECTUM - PAIN - burning - diarrhoea - during
RECTUM - PAIN - sticking
MOUTH - PAIN - burnt,as if
SKIN - ERUPTIONS - herpetic - zoster,zona
GENERALITIES - PAIN - burning - as from
STOOL - ACRID,corrosive,excoriating
HEAD - PAIN, - gastric
HEAD - PAIN, - cutting,darting,stabbing
HEAD - PAIN, - Sides,one side - right
RECTUM - DIARRHOEA - night
RECTUM - PAIN - burning - stool - during

Search all 7 classical repertories

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Ind Indg Indol Ins Inul Iod Iodof Ip

Practitioner guide: Iris versicolor

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