An official website of the United States government.

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Plant Acorus calamus (Acoraceae)

Common Names
Sweetflag; Calamus; Flagroot; Myrtle Flag; Sweet Calamus; Sweetroot
How this plant is used
Medicinal
View the list of ubiquitous chemicals
List of plant chemicals.
Click on column headings to sort table by that column. *Unless otherwise noted all references are to (Duke, 1992)
Chemical Name Activity Count Plant Part Low Parts Per Million High Parts Per Million Standard Deviation Reference
PHENOL 26 Plant not available not available not available Duke, 1992 *
PHENYLPROPANES 0 Rhizome not available not available not available Bisset, N.G., ed. 1994. Herbal Drugs and Phytopharmaceuticals. CRC Press. Boca Raton, FL. 566 pp.
POTASSIUM 14 Rhizome not available 16000.0 0.34 Chen, H.C. and Lin, S.M. 1988. Determination of Mineral Elements in Certain Crude Drugs (Part 1), Kaohsiung J. Med. Sci., 4: 259-272.
PREISOCALAMENDIOL 0 Rhizome not available not available not available Duke, 1992 *
RESIN 0 Plant not available not available not available Duke, 1992 *
RESIN 0 Rhizome not available 25000.0 -1.38 Newall, C. A., Anderson, L. A. and Phillipson, J. D. 1996. Herbal Medicine - A Guide for Health-care Professionals. The Pharmaceutical Press, London. 296pp.
SABINENE 5 Rhizome not available not available not available Pakistan Encyclopedia Planta Medica. 1986.
SAPONIN 0 Plant not available not available not available Pakistan Encyclopedia Planta Medica. 1986.
SEKISHONE 0 Rhizome not available 650.0 not available Lawrence, B.M., Essential Oils 1976-1977, Essential Oils 1978, Essential Oils 1979-1980.
SELINA-3,7(11)-DIENE 0 Essential Oil not available not available not available Duke, 1992 *
SELINENE 1 Plant not available not available not available Pakistan Encyclopedia Planta Medica. 1986.
SHYOBUNONE 0 Rhizome not available 1850.0 not available Lawrence, B.M., Essential Oils 1976-1977, Essential Oils 1978, Essential Oils 1979-1980.
SITOSTEROL 0 Plant not available not available not available Duke, 1992 *
SITOSTEROL 0 Rhizome not available not available not available Leung, A. Y. and Foster, S. 1995. Encyclopedia of Common Natural Ingredients 2nd Ed. John Wiley & Sons, New York. 649 pp.
SODIUM 1 Rhizome not available 459.0 -0.10 Chen, H.C. and Lin, S.M. 1988. Determination of Mineral Elements in Certain Crude Drugs (Part 1), Kaohsiung J. Med. Sci., 4: 259-272.
STARCH 5 Rhizome 250000.0 400000.0 -0.22 Newall, C. A., Anderson, L. A. and Phillipson, J. D. 1996. Herbal Medicine - A Guide for Health-care Professionals. The Pharmaceutical Press, London. 296pp.
TANNIN 35 Plant not available not available not available Duke, 1992 *
TANNIN 35 Rhizome not available 15000.0 not available Duke, 1992 *
TERPINEN-4-OL 23 Rhizome 10.0 500.0 not available Lawrence, B.M., Essential Oils 1976-1977, Essential Oils 1978, Essential Oils 1979-1980.
TERPINIC-ALCOHOL 0 Plant not available not available not available Duke, 1992 *
View the list of ubiquitous chemicals
List of plant activities.
Click on column headings to sort table by that column. *Unless otherwise noted all references are to (Duke, 1992)
Activity Chemical Count Reference
Antimetastatic 1 Duke, 1992 *
Antimetastatic (Stomach) 1 Duke, 1992 *
Antimigraine 2 Martindale's 29th
Antimite 1 Duke, 1992 *
Antimitotic 1 Jeffery B. Harborne and H. Baxter, eds. 1983. Phytochemical Dictionary. A Handbook of Bioactive Compounds from Plants. Taylor & Frost, London. 791 pp.
Antimitral-valve-prolapse 1 Duke, 1992 *
AntiMS 2 Martindale's 29th
Antimutagenic 7 Economic & Medicinal Plant Research, 6: 235.
Antinephritic 1 Uchida, U., Ohta, H., Niwa, M., Mori, A., Nonaka, G-i., Nishioka, I., and Zaki, M. 1989. Prolongation of Life Span of Stroke-Prone Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats (SHRSP) Ingesting Persimmon Tannin. Chem. Pharm. Bull. 38(4): 1049-1052, 1990.
Antinephrolytic 1 Duke, 1992 *
Antinesidioblastosic 1 Martindale's 29th
Antineuralgic 2 Duke, 1992 *
Antineuramidase 1 Duke, 1992 *
Antineuropathic 1 Duke, 1992 *
Antineurotic 1 Davies, S., and Stewart, A. 1990. Nutritional Medicine. Avon Books, New York. 509pp.
Antinitrosaminic 3 Duke, 1992 *
Antinitrosating 1 Duke, 1992 *
Antinitrosic 1 Martindale's 28th
Antinociceptive 4 Werbach, M. 1993. Healing with Food. Harper Collins, New York, 443 pp.
Antinyctalopic 1 Duke, 1992 *