Citizendia

Acorus
Sweet Flag (Acorus calamus) - spadix
Sweet Flag (Acorus calamus) - spadix
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Plantae
Division:Magnoliophyta
Class:Liliopsida
Order:Acorales
Reveal
Family:Acoraceae
Martinov
Genus:Acorus
L., 1753
Species

See text. Plants are living Organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. The flowering plants or angiosperms ( Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta) are the most widespread group Liliopsida is a Botanical name for the class containing the family Liliaceae (or Lily Family James Lauritz Reveal (born 1941-) is a botanist professor emeritus at the Norton Brown Herbarium Maryland (see his cv Carl Linnaeus (Latinized as Carolus Linnaeus, also known after his ennoblement as, May 23 new style (13 May old style 1707 who laid the foundations for

Acorus is a genus of monocot flowering plants. A genus (plural genera from Γένος Latin genus "descent family type gender" is a low-level Taxonomic Monocotyledons or monocots are one of two major groups of Flowering plants (angiosperms that are traditionally recognised the other being Dicotyledons The flowering plants or angiosperms ( Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta) are the most widespread group 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 arums comprise the Family Araceae (including the numerous Aroids subfamily monocotyledonous Flowering plants in which Flowers 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. Tofieldiaceae is the Botanical name of a family of Flowering plants. g. , Alismataceae, Posidoniaceae). Pos(eidonia also refers to the city of Magna Graecia later known as Paestum Posidonia is a genus of Flowering plants Common names include Calamus and Sweet Flag. Calamus or Common Sweet Flag ( Acorus calamus) is a Plant from the Acoraceae family Acorus genues It is known as vasambu in Tamil language. Tamil (ta தமிழ்; t̪əmɨɻ is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent.

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. Pedanius Dioscorides (Πεδάνιος Διοσκορίδης ca Herbalism is a traditional Medicinal or Folk medicine practice based on the use of Plants and Plant extracts Herbalism is also known as Inflammation ( Latin, inflamatio, to set on fire is the complex biological response of vascular tissues to harmful stimuli such as Pathogens Eyes are organs that detect Light, and send signals along the Optic nerve to the visual areas of the brain

The genus is native to North America and northern and eastern Asia, and naturalised in southern Asia and Europe from ancient cultivation. Naturalization is the acquisition of Citizenship or Nationality by somebody who was not a citizen or national of that country when he or she was born 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. "Haplo" redirects here For the fictional character see The Death Gate Cycle. Polyploidy occurs in cells and Organisms when there are more than two homologous sets of Chromosomes. Polyploidy occurs in cells and Organisms when there are more than two homologous sets of Chromosomes. In Biology, hybrid has two meanings The first meaning is the result of interbreeding between two animals or plants of different taxa.

Contents

Taxonomy

Although the family Acoraceae was originally described in 1820, since then Acorus has traditionally been included in Araceae in most classification systems, as in the Cronquist system. A system of plant taxonomy, the Cronquist system is a scheme for the classification of flowering plants (or Angiosperms) The family has recently been resurrected as molecular systematic studies have shown that Acorus is not closely related to Araceae or any other monocot family, leading plant systematists to place the genus and family in its own order. Monocotyledons or monocots are one of two major groups of Flowering plants (angiosperms that are traditionally recognised the other being Dicotyledons This placement currently lacks support from traditional plant morphology studies, and some taxonomists still place it as a subfamily of Araceae, in the order Alismatales. Alismatales is an order of Flowering plants The order will of necessity contain the family Alismataceae.

The APG II system recognizes order Acorales, distinct from the Alismatales, and as the sister group to all other monocots. Cladistics is the hierarchical classification of Species based on evolutionary ancestry

Characteristics

Sweet Flag - leaves
Sweet Flag - leaves

These grasslike evergreen plants are hemicryptophytes, (i. e. perennial plants of which the overwintering buds are at the soil surface) or geophytes (i. e. the overwintering buds are found underground, usually attached to a bulb, corm, tuber, etc. ). Their natural habitat is at the waterside or close to marshes, often found with reedbeds.

The inconspicuous flowers are arranged on a lateral spadix (a thickened, fleshy axis). A flower, also known as a bloom or Blossom, is the reproductive structure found in Flowering plants (plants of the division Magnoliophyta, also In Botany, a spadix (pl spadices) is a type of spike: an Inflorescence with small Flowers crowded on a thickened fleshy axis Unlike aroids, there is no spathe (large bract, enclosing the spadix). The spadix is 4-10 cm long and is enclosed by the foliage. The bract can be ten times longer than the spadix. The leaves are linear with entire margin. In Botany, a leaf is an above-ground Plant organ specialized for Photosynthesis.

The parallel-veined leaves of some species contain ethereal oils that give a sweet scent when dried. Fine-cut leaves used to be strewn across the floor in the Middle Ages, both for the scent, and for presumed efficacy against pests. A pest is an organism which has characteristics that are regarded by Humans as injurious or unwanted

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.

The genus includes as many as six species:

Sweet Flag (drawing)
Sweet Flag (drawing)

Acorus from Europe, China and Japan have been planted in the United States. China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National The United States of America —commonly referred to as the

Chemistry

Both triploid and tetraploid calamus contain asarone, but diploid does not contain any. Asarone, which includes alpha ( trans) and beta ( cis) types is an Ether found in certain plants such as Acorus and Mugwort. 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. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the

Usage

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. Absinthe is traditionally a distilled, highly alcoholic (45%-75% ABV) beverage 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. Stimulant drugs are Drugs that temporarily increase alertness and awareness An entheogen, in the strictest sense is a Psychoactive substance used in a religious or shamanic (or entheogenic) context In high doses, it is hallucinogenic; Calamus has been used as a "street drug alternative". The general group of pharmacological agents commonly known as hallucinogens can be divided into three broad categories Psychedelics, Dissociatives

Cultural 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. Kalamos (Calamus is an ancient Greek word meaning reed or Reed pen. The Büyük Menderes River (historically the Maeander also spelled Meander) Turkish: Büyük Menderes Nehri, Ancient Greek: In Greek mythology Karpos (Carpus literally "fruit" was a youth renowned for his beauty In Greek Mythology, the Anemoi (in Greek, Άνεμοι &mdash " winds " were Wind gods who were each ascribed This article is about "Chloris" in Greek Mythology For the Genus of tufted grasses in the Poaceae family also known as "Finger grass" and 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). Walter Whitman (May 31 1819 &ndash March 26 1892 was an American poet, Essayist journalist, and humanist. For the 2009 film by this name see Leaves of Grass (film Leaves of Grass (1855 is a poetry collection by the American poet 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.

Etymology of the word Calamus

Cognates of the Latin word Calamus are found in both Greek (kalamos, meaning "reed") and Sanskrit (kalama, meaning "reed" and "pen" as well as a sort of rice) — strong evidence that the word is older than all three languages and exists in their parent language, Proto-Indo European. Cognates in Linguistics are words that have a common origin They may occur within a language such as shirt and skirt as two English words descended from Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly Kalamos (Calamus is an ancient Greek word meaning reed or Reed pen. Sanskrit (sa संस्कृता वाक् saṃskṛtā vāk, for short sa संस्कृतम् saṃskṛtam) is a historical The Arabic word qalam (meaning "pen") is likely to have been borrowed from one of these languages in antiquity, or directly from Indo-European itself. Arabic (ar الْعَرَبيّة (informally ar عَرَبيْ) in terms of the number of speakers is the largest living member of the Semitic language

From the Latin root "calamus", a number of modern English words arise:

References and external links

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