ABSTRACT
Modern writers on herbs recommend an infusion of the rhizome for fevers and dyspepsia; chewing the rhizome to ease digestion and to clear the voice; and using the powdered material as a substitute for various spices in cooking.2 Some persons greatly enjoy its flavor. As Brer Rabbit put it, "I done got so now dat I can't eat no chicken 'ceppin she's seasoned up wid calamus root." Calamus was once used in this country as a flavoring agent in a variety of commercial products, ranging from tooth powders and tonics to beer and bitters. Candied sweet flag root was available into the 1960s, manufactured at the Sabbathday Lake, Maine, Shaker Community. Various species or varieties of this semiaquatic plant group from temperate regions of the Americas and Eurasia have a rich ethnobotanical history, encompassing numerous uses and cultures throughout their range. General ethnobotanical attributes include use as a stomachic, diaphoretic, diuretic, emmenagogue, appetite stimulant, and antispasmodic, among dozens of additional uses.3
