Meaning & use

Acorus calamus

noun·Advanced

A wetland plant, commonly called sweet flag, whose fragrant rhizome has long been used in traditional medicine and as a flavoring.

See it in a sentence

Traditional healers dried the root of Acorus calamus to treat digestive complaints.

The pond's edge was thick with Acorus calamus, its sword-shaped leaves swaying in the breeze.

A note on using this word

Acorus calamus is the scientific (Latin) name and is conventionally italicized in print; 'sweet flag' or 'calamus' are the common English names.

Words with a similar meaning

sweet flag

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