(Arum family).

Material: Roots of tall, fragrant, sword-leaved plant found in marshes and borders of ponds and streams in Europe, Asia, and North America from Nova Scotia to Minnesota, southward to Florida and Texas.

Usage: Roots are collected in late autumn or spring, washed, voided of root fibres and dried with moderate heat. Root may be chewed or broken up and boiled as a tea. Doses range from 2 to 10 inches of root. Root deteriorates with age. Usually inactive after 1 year. Store closed in cool dry place.

Active Constituents: Asarone and beta-asarone.

Effects: A piece of dried root the thickness of a pencil and about 2 inches long provides stimulating and buoyant feelings. A piece 10 inches long acts as a mind alterant and hallucinogen. (See ASARONE.)

Contraindications: The FDA frowns upon the sale and use of calamus and has issued directives to certain herb dealers not to sell it to the public. An FDA directive is simply a polite word for a threat of hassling without a law to back it. At present there are no laws against calamus. Some experiments have indicated that excessive amounts of calamus oil can increase the tumor rate in rats. Many of the Cree Indians of Northern Alberta chew calamus root for oral hygiene and as a stimulating tonic. They apparently suffer no unpleasant side effects. In fact, those who use it seem to be in better general health than those who do not.

Supplier: Dried root, MGH; viable root, RCS, GBR.