Sweet flag

Scientific name of sweet flag: Acorus Calamus

Name of sweet flag in different languages:-

English: Sweet Root, Sweet Sedge, Calamus

Sanskrit: Vaca, Ugragandha, Shataparvika, Kshudrapatra, Lomasha, Bhadra, Ugragandha, Shadgrantha, Golomi, Rakshoghni, Haimavati.

Hindi: Gora-bach, Vasa bach.

Malayalam: Vayambu വയമ്പ്.

Plant description:

Sweet Flag - Acorus Calamus is a perennial herb, commonly grow in marsh land or wet area, it grows to 1 to 4 ft tall, leaves are slender, simple, long and sword-shaped, emerge directly from a spreading root stock, flattened and smooth along margins. The flowers are fragrant, small, greenish yellow, and diamond- shaped pattern, 6 tepals, and it is  flowering is March to May. Rhizome is the useful plant part, which is fragrant.

Medicinal uses:

Induce memory power and intelligence, improving memory, anti-aging, increase semen, increase vision, to remove toxic substances from the body.

Useful plant parts:

Root/Rhizome

Leaf Arrangement

Shape-Acicular	Margin-Entire	Venation-parallel

Medicinal Properties:

Diuretic, expectorant, decongestant, anti-convulsant, aphrodisiac, anti-bacterial agent and anti-inflammatory 

Chemical content:

Absinthe, Alpha-asarone, Beta-asarone, eugenol, spathulenol, galangin, alpha-asarone, cis-isoelemicine, acoradin, and dimethoxy-benzoquinone

How to prepare medicines:

In Kerala,  a mixture of Honey and rhizomes of Sweet flag (തേനും വയമ്പും ) is give as a first intake for new born babies.

Sweet flag is the one of the ingredient in the Ayurveda medicines like-