Sweet Flag

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Sweet Flag

Sweet Flag, also known as calamus (Acorus calamus) is a plant

Plant

Plants are Life organisms belonging to the Kingdom Plantae. They include familiar organisms such as trees, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae....
from the Acoraceae family, Acorus

Acorus

Acorus is a genus of monocot flowering plants. This genus was once placed within the family Araceae , but more recent classifications place it in its own family Acoraceae and order Acorales, of which it is the sole genus of the oldest surviving line of monocots....
genus. It is a tall perennial

Perennial plant

A perennial plant or perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. When used by gardeners or horticulturalists, this term applies specifically to perennial herbaceous plants....
wetland

Wetland

File:Mangrove trees in Everglades.JPGA wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with moisture either permanently or seasonally. Such areas may also be covered partially or completely by shallow pools of water....
monocot with scented leaves and rhizome

Rhizome

In botany, a rhizome is a characteristically horizontal plant stem of a plant that is usually found underground, often sending out roots and shoots from its nodes....
s which have been used medicinally, for its odor, and as a psychotropic drug

Psychoactive drug

A psychoactive drug or psychotropic substance is a chemical substance that acts primarily upon the central nervous system where it alters brain function, resulting in temporary changes in perception, mood , consciousness and behaviour....
. It is known by a variety of names, including cinnamon sedge, flagroot, gladdon, myrtle flag, myrtle grass, myrtle sedge, sweet cane, sweet myrtle, sweet root, sweet rush, and sweet sedge.

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Encyclopedia

Sweet Flag, also known as calamus (Acorus calamus) is a plant

Plant

Acorus

Perennial plant

Wetland

Rhizome

Psychoactive drug

Sanskrit

Sanskrit is a historical Indo-Aryan language, one of the liturgical languages of Hinduism and Buddhism, and one of the 22 official languages of India....
name is vacha. Probably indigenous to India

India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
, Acorus calamus is now found across Europe, in southern Russia, northern Asia Minor, southern Siberia, China, Japan, Burma, Sri Lanka, Australia, southern Canada and northern USA.

Botanical information

The morphological

Morphology (biology)

The term morphology in biology refers to form, structure and configuration of an organism. This includes aspects of the outward appearance as well as the form and structure of the internal parts like bones and organs....
distinction between the Acorus species is made by the number of prominent leaf

Leaf

In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant Organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat and thin, to expose the cells containing chloroplast to light over a broad area, and to allow light to penetrate fully into the tissues....
veins. Acorus calamus has a single prominent midvein and then on both sides slightly raised secondary veins (with a diameter less than half the midvein) and many, fine tertiary veins. This makes it clearly distinct from Acorus americanus.

The leaves are between 0.7 and 1.7 cm wide, with average of 1 cm. The sympodial leaf of Acorus calamus is somewhat shorter than the vegetative leaves. The margin is curly-edged or undulate. The spadix

Spadix

In botany, a spadix is a type of raceme: an inflorescence with small flowers crowded on a thickened, fleshy axis. The term is applied to certain monocotyledons, especially members of the Family Araceae called arums or aroids....
, at the time of expansion, can reach a length between 4.9 and 8.9 cm (longer than A. americanus). The flowers are longer too, between 3 and 4 mm. Acorus calamus is infertile and shows an abortive ovary

Ovary (plants)

In the flowering plants, an ovary is a part of the female reproductive organ of the flower or gynoecium. Specifically, it is the part of the carpel which holds the ovule and is located above or below or at the point of connection with the base of the petals and sepals....
with a shriveled appearance.

Chemistry

Both triploid and tetraploid calamus contain asarone

Asarone

Asarone, which includes alpha and beta types, is an ether found in certain plants such as acorus and asarum. As a volatile fragrance oil, it is used in killing Pest s and bacteria....
, but diploid does not contain any.

Regulations

Calamus and products derived from calamus (such as its oil) were banned in 1968 as food additives and medicines by the United States

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
Food and Drug Administration

Food and Drug Administration

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is an Government agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and is responsible for regulating and supervising the safety of foods, dietary supplements, Medications, vaccines, Biopharmaceutical, blood transfusion, medical devices, Electromagnetic radiation-emitting devices, veteri...
.

Usage

Calamus has been an item of trade in many cultures for thousands of years. Calamus has been used medicinally for a wide variety of ailments and its smell makes calamus essential oil valued in the perfume industry.

In antiquity in the Orient and Egypt, the rhizome was thought to be a powerful aphrodisiac. In Europe Acorus calamus was often added to wine, and the root is also one of the possible ingredients of absinthe

Absinthe

Absinthe is historically described as a distillation, highly alcoholic beverage. It is an anise-flavored Distilled beverage derived from herbs, including the flowers and leaves of the herb Absinth Wormwood, commonly referred to as "grande wormwood"....
. Among the northern Native Americans, it is used both medicinally and as a stimulant

Stimulant

Stimulant drugs are drugs that temporarily increase alertness and awareness. They usually have increased side-effects with increased effectiveness, and the more powerful variants are therefore often prescription medicines or illegal drugs....
; in addition, the root is thought to have been used as an entheogen

Entheogen

An entheogen , in the strictest sense, is a psychoactive substance used in a religion or shamanism context. Historically, entheogens are derived primarily from plant sources and have been used in a variety of traditional religious contexts....
among the northern Native Americans. In high doses, it is hallucinogenic

Psychedelics, dissociatives and deliriants

The general group of pharmacology agents commonly known as hallucinogens can be divided into three broad categories: Psychedelic drugs, dissociatives, and deliriants....
. Acorus calamus shows neuroprotective effect against stroke and chemical induced neurodegeneration in rat. Specifically, it has protective effect against acrylamide induced neurotoxicity. Shukla PK, Khanna VK, Ali MM, Maurya R, Khan MY, Srimal RC. Neuroprotective effect of Acorus calamus against middle cerebral artery occlusion-induced ischaemia in rat. Hum Exp Toxicol. 2006 Apr;25(4):187-94. PMID: 16696294 Shukla PK, Khanna VK, Ali MM, Maurya RR, Handa SS, Srimal RC. Protective effect of acorus calamus against acrylamide induced neurotoxicity.Phytother Res. 2002 May;16(3):256-60. PMID: 12164272

The plant's roots are often eaten for its effects, which are not very pronounced. Hence, Sweet Flag is not seen as a party drug.

Calamus oil, also known as sweet cane or sweet smelling cane oil, was used in ancient Israel as an incense in the temple sacrifices..

Cultural symbolism

The calamus has long been a symbol of male love. The name is associated with a Greek myth: Kalamos

Kalamos

Kalamos is an Ancient Greece word meaning Phragmites or reed pen. The basis for this meaning is the story of the Greek mythology figure Kalamos, son of Maiandros ....
, a son of the river-god Maeander, who loved Karpos

Karpos

In Greek mythology, Karpos , was a youth renowned for his beauty. He is the son of Zephyros and Chloris , forming a natural metaphor ? the west wind heralds the new growth of spring, which then bears fruit....
, the son of Zephyrus and Chloris

Chloris

There are many stories in Greek mythology about figures named Chloris . Some clearly refer to different characters; other stories may refer to the same Chloris, but disagree on details....
. When Karpos drowned, Kalamos was transformed into a reed, whose rustling in the wind was interpreted as a sigh of lamentation.

The plant was a favorite of Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau was an United States author, poet, Natural history, tax resistance, development criticism, surveyor, historian, philosophy, and leading Transcendentalism....
(who called it sweet flag), and also of Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman

Walter Whitman was an United States Poetry of the United States, essayist, journalism, and humanism. He was a part of the transition between Transcendentalism and literary realism, incorporating both views in his works....
, who added a section called the "Calamus

Calamus (poem)

The "Calamus" poems are a cluster of poems in Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman. These poems celebrate and promote "the manly love of comrades"....
" poems, possibly celebrating his love of men, to the third edition of Leaves of Grass
Leaves of Grass

Leaves of Grass is a poetry collection by the Poetry of the United States Walt Whitman. Among the poems in the collection are "Song of Myself," "I Sing the Body Electric ," "Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking," and in later editions, Whitman's elegy to the Abraham Lincoln assassination President of the United States Abraham Lincoln, "Wh...
(1860). In the poems the calamus is used as a symbol of love, lust, and affection. It has been suggested that the symbology derives from the visual resemblance of the spadix to the erect human penis.

The name Sweet Flag refers to its sweet scent (it has been used as a strewing herb

Strewing herb

Strewing herbs are certain kinds of plants that are scattered over the floors of dwelling places and other buildings. Such plants usually have fragrant or astringent smells, and many also serve as insecticides or disinfectants....
) and the wavy edges of the leaves which are supposed to resemble a fluttering flag.

In Japan, the plant is a symbol of the samurai

Samurai

is the term for the military nobility of Pre-industrial society Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character ? was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau....
's bravery because of its sharp sword-like leaves. Even now many families with young boys enjoy "Sweet Flag Bath (shobu yu)" in the Boy's Festival

Kodomo no hi

is a Japanese national holiday which takes place annually on May 5, the fifth day of the fifth month, and is part of the Golden Week . It is a day set aside to respect children's personalities and to celebrate their happiness....
(Tango no Sekku) on May 5. Also, the legendary Japanese sword Kusanagi

Kusanagi

is a legendary Japanese sword as important to Japan's history as Excalibur is to Great Britain, and is one of three Imperial Regalia of Japan. It was originally called Ama-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi but its name was later changed to the more popular Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi ....
was said to resemble a calamus.

Etymology of the word Calamus

Cognate

Cognates in linguistics are words that have a common etymology origin.An example of cognates within the same language would be English shirt vs....
s of the Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
word Calamus are found in both Greek

Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
(kalamos
Kalamos

Kalamos is an Ancient Greece word meaning Phragmites or reed pen. The basis for this meaning is the story of the Greek mythology figure Kalamos, son of Maiandros ....
, meaning "reed") and Sanskrit

Sanskrit

Sanskrit is a historical Indo-Aryan language, one of the liturgical languages of Hinduism and Buddhism, and one of the 22 official languages of India....
(kalama, meaning "reed" and "pen" as well as a sort of rice) — strong evidence that the word is older than all three languages and exists in their parent language, Proto-Indo European. The Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a Central Semitic language, thus related to and classified alongside other Semitic languages languages such as Hebrew language and Aramaic language....
word qalam (meaning "pen") is likely to have been borrowed from one of these languages in antiquity, or directly from Indo-European itself.

From the Latin root "calamus", a number of modern English words arise:

calamari, meaning "squid", via the Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
calamarium, "ink horn" or "pen case", as reeds were then used as writing implements;
calumet, another name for the Native American
Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the Indigenous peoples of the Americas from the regions of North America now encompassed by the continental United States United States, including parts of Alaska and the island state of Hawaii....
peace pipe
Peace pipe

A peace pipe, also called a calumet or medicine pipe, is a ceremonial smoking pipe used by many Native Americans in the United States tribes, traditionally as a token of peace....
, which was often made from a hollow reed;
shawm
Shawm

The shawm was a medieval and Renaissance musical instrument of the woodwind family made in Europe from the late 13th century until the 17th century....
, a medieval oboe
Oboe

The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois", "hoboy", or "French hoboy"....
-like instrument (whose sound is produced by a vibrating reed mouthpiece);
chalumeau register, the lower notes of a clarinet
Clarinet

The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The name derives from adding the suffix -et meaning little to the Italian word clarino meaning a particular type of trumpet, as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet....
's range (another reed instrument).

External links

in http://delta-intkey.com