HEXANDRIA— MONOGYNIA. Acorus. 157 

 197. ACORUS. Sweet Flag. 



Linn. Gen. 172. Juss. 25. Fl. Br. 373. Lam. t.252. GtErtn. t.S4. 

 Calamus aromaticus. Mich. Gen. 43. t.3l. 



Nat. Ord. Piperitce. Linn. 2. Aroidece. Juss. 7. 



Col. none. Spadix naked, nearly cylindrical, simple, covered 

 with sessile flowers, deciduous. Pet. 6, inferior, equal, ob- 

 tuse, concave, lax, rather thicker in the upper part ; pro- 

 tuberant at the back. Filam. thickish, erect, about the 

 length of the petals, and alternate with them. Aiith. of 2 

 roundish lobes, terminal. Ger7n. superior, sessile, elliptic- 

 oblong, the length of the stamens. Style none. Stigma 

 hemispherical, obscurely 3-lobed. Caps, triangular, ab- 

 rupt, membranous, of 3 cells, not bursting. Seeds several, 

 ovate-oblong. 



Aromatic smooth herbs, with creeping, horizontal, scarred, 

 woody roots. Stem none. Leaves radical, equitant, sword- 

 shaped, pointed. Stalk solitary, radical, central, com- 

 pressed, quite simple, bearing one lateral spadix, sur- 

 mounted by a leafy point. Only 2 species are known ; 

 the exotic one, brought from China, is hardy in our 

 gardens. 



1. A. Calamus. Common Sweet Flas:. 



Leafy smnmit of the flower-stalk rising high above the 

 spadix. 



A. Calamus. Linn. Sp. PI. 462. rVilld. v. 2. 199. Fl. Br. 373. 



Engl. Bot. V. 5. t. 356. Woodv. Med. Bot. t.\73. Purton «. 3. 3 1 



Leers S&.t.\3.f.\2. H.Dan.t.]l58. 

 A. n. 1307. Hall. Hist. v. 2. 164. 

 A. verus. Bauh. Theatr. 626. f. 

 A. verus, sive Calamus officinarum. RniiSyn.437. 

 A. verus, officinis falso Calamus. Ger. Em. 62. f. 

 Acorum. Matth. Valgr. v. i. 19./. Camer. Epit. 5./. 

 Typha aromatica, clava rugosa. Moris, v. 3. 246 sect. 8. t. 13./. 4. 



In watery places, about the banks of rivers, but not very general. 



In the rivers of Norfolk plentiful. On Hillingdon common, Mid- 

 dlesex, and in other places about London. Rellian, Sibthorp, 

 Abbot and Purton have it in their Floras. In Scotland it is un- 

 known. 



Perennial. June. 



Root thick, rather spongy, with many long radicles, aromatic, like 

 every part of the herbage, but much more powerfully so. Leaves 

 erect, 2 or 3 feet high, bright green, near an inch broad. Stalk 

 like the leaves, except being thicker below the spadix, and not 



