FAMILY Araceae
SYNONYMS Calamus aromaticus, sweet flag, sweet sedge, sweet root, sweet rush, sweet cane, sweet myrtle, myrtle grass, myrtle sedge, cinnamon sedge. GENERAL DESCRIPTION A reed-like aquatic plant about 1 meter high, with sword-shaped leaves and small greenish-yellow flowers. It grows on the margins of lakes and streams with the long-branched rhizome immersed in the mud. The whole plant is aromatic.
DISTRIBUTION Native to India; the oil is mainly produced in India and Russia and to a lesser extent in Europe (except Spain), Siberia, China, Yugoslavia, and Poland (Polish and Yugoslavian oils have a uniform lasting scent).
OTHER SPECIES Not to be confused with the yellow flag iris which it resembles in appearance; they are botanically unrelated. There are several other varieties of aromatic sedge, mostly in the east, for example, Calamus odoratus is used in India as a medicine and perfume.
HERBAL/FOLK TRADITION The name derives from the Greek calamos meaning ‘reed’. The properties of the herb are mainly due to the aromatic oil, contained largely in the root. It used to be highly esteemed as an aromatic stimulant and tonic for fever (typhoid), nervous complaints, vertigo, headaches, dysentery, etc. It is still current in the British Herbal Pharmacopoeia, for ‘acute and chronic dyspepsia, gastritis, intestinal colic, anorexia, gastric ulcer.’18 In Turkey and especially in India (where it is valued as traditional medicine), it is sold as a candied rhizome for dyspepsia, bronchitis, and coughs.
ACTIONS Anticonvulsant, antiseptic, bactericidal, carminative, diaphoretic, expectorant, hypotensive, insecticide, spasmolytic, stimulant, stomachic, tonic, vermifuge.
EXTRACTION Essential oil by steam distillation from the rhizomes (and sometimes the leaves).
CHARACTERISTICS A thick, pale yellow liquid with a strong, warm, woodyspicy fragrance; poor quality oils have a camphoraceous note. It blends well with cananga, cinnamon, labdanum, olibanum, patchouli, cedarwood, amyris, spice and oriental bases.
PRINCIPAL CONSTITUENTS Beta-asarone (amounts vary depending on source: the Indian oil contains up to 80 per cent, the Russian oil a maximum of 6 per cent), also calamene, calamol, calamenene, eugenol and shyobunones.
SAFETY DATA Oral toxin. The oil of calamus is reported to have carcinogenic properties.
AROMATHERAPY/HOME USE None. ‘Should not be used in therapy, whether internally or externally.’
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