ORONTIACE^E. 



621 



Linn., Sp.Pl.462; Fi s- 279 - 



Pursh, Fl. Am. i. 

 235 ; Eng. Bot. 356 ; 

 Beck, Bot. Nor. and 

 Mid. St. 381 ; Barton, 

 Veg. Mat. Med. ii. t. 

 30 ; Rafinesque, Med. 

 Flor. i. 25; Griffith, 

 Jour. Phil. Coll. Phar. 

 v. 265, &c. 



Common Names. — 

 Calamus ; Sweet Flag; 

 Sweet Root, &c. 



Foreign Names. — 

 Acore odorant, Fr. ; 

 Calamo aromatico,/^.; 

 Kalmuswurzel, Ger. 



Calamus is found in 

 most parts of the world, 

 on the borders of small 

 streams and ponds, 

 and in wet meadows, 

 swamps, &c. It flow- 

 ers in this latitude 

 about May or June. 

 The part used is the 

 rhizome; this, as found 

 in the shops, is in 

 somewhat flattened 

 pieces, deprived of 

 their epidermis, wrin- 

 kled, of a yellowish 

 colour, having on one 

 side numerous small 

 circular spots. Inter- 

 nally, whitish or yel- 

 lowish ; of a light and 

 spongy texture; hav- 

 ing a strong and fragrant odour, and a warm, bitterish, aromatic taste. 

 It yields its virtues to water, but more fully to alcohol. From an analysis 

 by TromsdorfF(.A7m. Chim. xvii.), it appears to contain Volatile oil, Resin, 

 Extractive, &c. The oil is stated, by Thomson, {Mat. Med. i.,) to differ 

 from the other volatile oils in not dissolving Iodine. It is lighter than water, 

 of a'pale yellow colour, and very odorous and pungent. 



It was, for a long time, supposed that this root was the Calamus aroma- 

 ticus of the old writers. From the descriptions of this latter by Theophras- 

 tus, Galen, Pliny, and others, it would appear, that it consisted of reddish, 

 knotty stems and roots, which were brittle, filled with pith, viscous when 

 chewed, and of a bitter astringent taste ; and that the plant itself perfumed 

 the air around the spots in which it grew. From these accounts, it is impos- 

 sible, at the present day, to ascertain, with any certainty, to what plant they 

 referred. At a very early period, after the revival of science, the Acorus 

 was assumed to be the true species, and was substituted for it, in all the dis- 



A. calamus. 



