Common Names
Sweet flag, beewort, bitter pepper root, calamus, drug sweetflag, flagroot, Myrtle flag, pine root, reed acorus, sweet cane, sweet cinnamon, sweet flagroot, sweet grass, sweet Myrtle, sweetroot, sweet rush, sweet sedge, sweet segg.

Description
A perennial. Leaves are long, narrow, and sharp-edged, and have a distinct fragrance. Flower stalk, which is 2 or 3 inches long and club-like, appears halfway up the leaf. Stalk is covered with tiny crowded greenish-yellow flowers. Plant has creeping rhizome.

Flowering Period
May to July.

Habitat
Swamps and edges of streams, marshes, and pond margins.

Harvest
Rhizomes in early spring, or root in August.

Uses
Plant has many uses, ranging from a flavoring agent and insecticide to tonic. In Appalachia, the root is chewed to clear the throat and to cure stomach gas; and the powdered or ground plant is used in sachets.