All medicinal plants, as you are fulfilled with flowers and fruits and you bless all diseased, so make them free from disease, said by one of the ancient Acharya. One of them is Musta (Cyperus rotundus Linn.) which grows everywhere in the vicinity of water.

Mustak a best medicine for digestive system is a shrub belonging to grass variety in height from 0.3 to 1 metre. It has long thin leaves similar to grass. Flowers are in clusters and originate from tip. Fruits are long. Roots are blackish, aromatic, 2-3 cm thick.

Useful part
Rhizomic Roots are used for medicinal purpose both internally and externally. Chemically it contains fat, sugar, gum, starch, albumin, salt, aromatic oils etc.

Properties:
Rasa: Tikta Veerya: Sheeta Vipaka: Katu

Uses:
It is a good Appetiser, Digestive, Astringent, Anthelmintic, Diuretic , etc.

Medicinal uses:
Some medicinal uses of Mustak are as follows

Fever:

1. According to acharya Vagbhata it is best medicine for fever.
2. Water boiled with mustak can be used to pacify thirst in fever.

Diarrhoea:

1. Decoction of Mustak should be taken mixed with honey.
2. Mustak rhizomes twenty in number should be boiled in milk with three times water reduced to milk . Its intake checks mucus and pain.
3. Mustak is crushed and boiled in equal milk reduced to one-fourth, when get cooled it is taken with honey. It checks diarrhoea with mucus and blood.
4. Worms infestation and Diarrhoea : 3gm. powder of its roots with powder of Vidanga (Embelia ribes) is a good remedy for worm infestations with diarrhoea in childhood age.
5. Balachaturbhadra which is an important ayurvedica remedy very useful in conditions like fever diarrhoea cough vomiting at childhood age contains Mustak as a major drug.
6. According to Ayurveda during infancy if baby have any disease, along with child, medicine should also be given to feeding mother which purifies mother’s milk , on which infant is getting his nourishment Mustak is the best medicine for it. It’s decoction should be used for it.
7. Pruritus : Decoction made from Mustak , Neem and Patola is good medicine for Pruritus, and so on...

In this way a small medicine but having potential to cure diseases and hence it’s name is MUSTA.(means to kill disease pathogenesis).

References:
1)Vanoushadhi Chandrodaya
2)Nighantu Adarsh
3)Text book of Ayurvedic pharmacology and Therupetic uses of Medicinal Plants