What is calamus root used for?
What is Calamus root used for?
Calamus (Acorus calamus L) is a perennial plant belonging to the Acoraceae family.
Calamus grows 60-150 cm tall. Its leaves are linear, pointed, glossy green, 1-2 cm wide, and wavy along one edge. The stem, like the leaves, is triangular.
Calamus does not bloom often, and in the Nordic countries, only sterile triploids occur.
(A triploid is an organism with three sets of chromosomes and is therefore sterile. An example of another triploid crop is the banana.)
In the Nordic countries, calamus is quite common and thrives in clay soil and shallow, nutrient-rich waters, such as lake inlets, ponds, rivers, stream outlets, and bogs. Its distribution covers southern Finland, southern Sweden, small areas in southern Norway, and all of Denmark.
Calamus originated from southern China and the Himalayas and came to Scandinavia during the early Middle Ages.
Records of the use of calamus exist in Chinese writings dating back to the 4th millennium BC, where it is mentioned as "the one who prolongs life," as well as in ancient Persian writings from the 7th century BC. The Indian Vedas from the 3rd century BC contain detailed descriptions of this medicinal plant, whose name, translated from Sanskrit, reads: "one that makes speech clear."
Hippocrates also wrote about the healing properties and uses of calamus.
In European writings, it was first mentioned in the 16th century as a medicinal plant widely used in folk medicine due to its properties.
The dried rhizome, collected in late summer and early autumn, is used as the medicinal part. The rhizome contains a significant proportion of starch, mucilage, and tannins, glucosides, the alkaloid calamine, bitter compounds, saponins, and essential oil.