Acorus

Acorus is a genus of monocot flowering plants. This genus was once placed within the family Araceae (aroids), 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. The exact relationship of Acorus to other monocots, however, is still debated by scientists. Some studies indicate that it is placed in a lineage (the order Alismatales), that also includes aroids (Araceae), Tofieldiaceae, and several families of aquatic monocots (e.g., Alismataceae, Posidoniaceae). Common names include Calamus and Sweet Flag. It is known as vasambu in Tamil language.

The name 'acorus' is derived from the Greek word 'acoron', a name used by Dioscorides, which in turn was derived from 'coreon', meaning 'pupil', because it was used in herbal medicine as a treatment for inflammation of the eye.

The genus is native to North America and northern and eastern Asia, and naturalised in southern Asia and Europe from ancient cultivation. The known wild populations are diploid except for some tetraploids in eastern Asia, while the cultivated plants are sterile triploids, probably of hybrid origin between the diploid and tetraploid forms.



Chemistry
Both triploid and tetraploid calamus contain asarone, but diploid does not contain any. Asarone is a possible precursor in the synthesis of the psychedelic phenethylamine TMA-2. The chemical itself is reportedly without activity at doses up to 70 mg.


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


USES
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.
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. Among the northern Native Americans, it is used both medicinally and as a stimulant; in addition, the root is thought to have been used as an entheogen among the northern Native Americans. In high doses, it is hallucinogenic; Calamus has been used as a "street drug alternative".


Symbolism
The calamus has long been a symbol of male love. The name is associated with a Greek myth: Kalamos, a son of the river-god Maeander, who loved Karpos, the son of Zephyrus and Chloris. 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 (who called it sweet flag), and also of Walt Whitman, who added a section called The Calamus Poems, celebrating the love of men, to the third edition of Leaves of Grass (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 resemblane of the reed to the erect human penis.

The name Sweet Flag refers to its sweet scent (It has been used as a strewing herb) and the wavy edges of the leaves which are supposed to resemble a fluttering flag.


Species
In older literature and on many websites, there is still much confusion, with the name Acorus calamus equally but wrongfully applied to Acorus americanus.

Acorus americanus, the American Sweet Flag, is an emergent wetland plant native to the northern United States and Canada. This perennial plant has bright green blade-shaped leaves that arising directly from the rhizomes and sheath into each other at the base. Additionally the blades have 2-6 raised veins, and a swollen center when viewed in cross section. The foliage has a citrus-like spicy aromatic quality, and can be used to flavor beer. It is a flowering plant with inconspicuous flowers are arranged on a lateral spadix (a thickened, fleshy axis), the fertilized flowers of this species produces berries with a jelly inside. This plant is protected as a state endangered species in Pennsylvania.

Calamus or Common Sweet Flag (Acorus calamus) is a plant from the Acoraceae family, Acorus genues. It is a tall perennial wetland monocot with scented leaves and rhizomes which have been used medicinally, for its odor, and as a psychotropic drug. 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. Its Sanskrit name is vacha. Probably indigenous to India, 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.

Acorus gramineus - Native to Japan in eastern Asia, where it usually occurs in wetlands and shallow water. Acorus gramineus spreads aggressively by rhizome, creating a nearly-seamless groundcover where conditions are favorable, and it is frequently used around the edges of ponds and water gardens, as well as submerged in freshwater aquaria. It can be propagated by dividing the fleshy underwater rhizome and planting the base in shallow water until the cutting strengthens.

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