Descriptive characteristics of the plant, advice on growing calamus in the open field and at home, recommendations for reproduction, difficulties encountered in leaving, facts to note, types. Calamus (Acorus) is a plant belonging to the genus of perennials with evergreen foliage and a herbaceous form of growth. They are attributed to the monotypic family of Airnye (Acoraceae) or as it is sometimes called Airovye. Botanists ranked only two varieties in this genus, but according to some sources their number increases to six units. In natural conditions, these representatives of the flora prefer to settle in very damp areas or in shallow waters, which are not uncommon along the banks of large and small waterways (rivers, streams or lakes) or can be found in large numbers along the perimeter of swamps. The territories of Asia Minor are considered to be the native lands of calamus.
| Family name | Airovs |
| Life cycle | Perennial |
| Growth features | Evergreen, herbaceous |
| Reproduction | Vegetative - division of the rhizome |
| Landing period in open ground | Delenki are planted in early spring |
| Disembarkation scheme | Depends on the variety |
| Substrate | Any nutrient soil |
| Illumination | Shading without direct sun rays |
| Moisture indicators | Prefers high humidity |
| Special Requirements | Unpretentious |
| Plant height | 0, 1–1, 2 m |
| Color of flowers | Greenish yellow |
| Type of flowers, inflorescences | Ear |
| Flowering time | The beginning of spring |
| Decorative time | Spring-summer |
| Places of application | Wet places, shores of artificial reservoirs |
| USDA zone | 3, 4, 5 |
The name calamus received, thanks to the adaptation of its name from the ancient Greek language "akoros", at least a plant and a similar fragrant root is found in the records of the ancient Greek philosopher Theophastus, dating back to the 3rd century BC. It means in a broad sense "sharp" or "ugly, unadorned." So for a long time, people have christened Acorus for the shape of the leaf plates and the unassuming appearance of the inflorescences. There is another version, according to which the term in Latin comes from the ancient Greek "akorov", meaning "Iris pseudacorus" (Iris pseudacorus), but after some modification became "acoron / acorum" without changing its meaning, which defines the same plant. Different peoples called this unpretentious example of the green world in their own way, but in our area it is customary to call the type of ordinary calamus (Acorus calamus) "calamus". Also popular names are "flat cake" or "saber", according to the type of leaves or "Tatar potion", "Tatar saber", based on the native territory.
Basically, all varieties of this genus are rhizomatous grass that settles on very moist soil. The height of an adult plant can vary from 10 cm (if we take into account the cultivars of the calamus cereal) and up to 1.2 m for the common calamus. Any part of this "marsh dweller" has a faint pleasant aroma.
The outlines of the rhizome are thick, reaching 3 cm in diameter. It is horizontally located under the soil, creeping. The color of the root is brown, but when broken, a whitish-pink flesh is exposed, which can be used for food. The smell at the root of calamus is somewhat similar to tangerine or cinnamon. From such horizontally growing roots, both root processes originate downward, and foliage with flowering stems - upward. Calamus stems grow erect, there is no branching, in section they have three edges, the ribs are rather sharp. The leaf plates, elongated, linear-xiphoid, are arranged alternately, the color is bright green. They grow in such a way that together they resemble a fan, similar to the leaves of irises. Growing together with each other, the leaf plates surround the stem, while the inflorescence seems to be formed from the leafy middle. When broken, the foliage has a pleasant aroma with a marshy note.
The flowering process occurs in early spring. The inflorescence is a cylindrical ear, varying in length from 4–12 cm. The number of flowers on the ear is multiple. The ear is covered with a cover sheet, which is almost half a meter long. Flowers in the inflorescence are bisexual, greenish-yellow color. After flowering, fruits are always formed, but when grown at home, the plant rarely blooms. The fruits of calamus are polyspermous berries with a dryish surface. The color of the berries is greenish or red. The fruits are often spread by the animals that eat them.
It is customary for gardeners to decorate artificial reservoirs with calamus thickets or plant it in places with very wet soil.
Tips for growing calamus outdoors, care
- Landing place Calamus is picked up moist with a nutritious substrate, for example, next to a reservoir where there is a lot of silt. The earth is dug up before planting, all weeds are removed, and peat (compost) and clay are introduced. Planted in the shade, although it can withstand some sunlight, shading is recommended at midday. If the calamus species is marsh, then it is immersed in water by 20 cm, but for the cereal calamus they can withstand planting to a depth of 10 cm. into the room. Indoors, a pot with a "saber" is placed on the windowsills of the east or west (southwest) window. On the south, shading is required.
- Growing temperature. When cultivated at home, temperatures in the range of 18-22 degrees are suitable in the spring-summer period, and with the onset of the cold season - 15-18 degrees. Drafts are very harmful, since calamus quickly dies from them. If the area is with a mild climate, then the plant does not need shelter in winter, but in our strip it is better to move it indoors or create a reliable layer of foliage or use agrofibre.
- Watering and humidity. Soil moistening should be regular and abundant. The soil in the pot should never dry out. Naturally, when kept in an aquarium, such conditions are not needed.
- Fertilizers for calamus, they are introduced with the beginning of the activation of vegetation processes, approximately from the end of spring to September, only once a month. In the summer months, the cinquefoil will especially require additional fertilizing, as they are used for decorative deciduous indoor plants or take preparations for hydroponics. But some growers are of the opinion that fertilizing calamus only harm and, when grown in a pond, can activate their algae growth.
- Transplant and substrate. Calamus should be transplanted only as needed, when the container has become cramped and it is better to do this in the spring-summer period, and in the fall only in warm areas. When grown at home, the pot is selected wide, with a suitable height, since the rhizome has the property of growing. Although the plant is moisture-loving, a drainage layer is placed at the bottom of the container. The soil for the "Tatar potion" must have sufficient properties of air permeability to the roots and absorbed moisture. A commercial fern or azalea soil mix is suitable. Independently, the substrate can be mixed from part of the garden soil, peat about 2/3 of the total volume and a small amount of river sand.
- General care. If the plant is in a pond, then, even frozen into the ice, it will survive much better than those that hibernate in the ground without shelter. The foliage of calamus, which has withered, is not harvested in the fall to create a better shelter, and with the arrival of spring, when new shoots appear, they begin to gently comb it out, removing the old plates.
Recommendations for breeding calamus
Basically, in order to get a new cinquefoil bush, only vegetative propagation is advised, which gives positive results, since its fruits do not ripen. In this case, the division of the overgrown rhizome is carried out. The calamus variety can be divided throughout the entire spring-summer period. In the fall, reproduction should not be carried out by carving, since weakly rooted delenks will not be able to survive the winter in the open field.
The signal that you can start the division operation is the formation of fresh whitish roots, which will usually become visible in mid-February. A little later, young leaves will begin to crawl out of the upper parts of the shoots, which means that the vegetation processes are in full swing and the maternal calamus can be divided.
For dividing, it is necessary to remove the plant from the soil or water using a pitchfork or rake. When grown at home, calamus is simply taken out of the pot. Then you will need to thoroughly clean the rhizome from the soil. The division is carried out in such a way that each division has 2-3 points of growth and a sufficient number of leaves, otherwise the resulting part will be small and will not be able to take root successfully. The foliage can be cut by 2/3. Planting is carried out in plastic or peat 200 gram cups, but it is better to use the latter option, then, with successful rooting, the young calamus is simply planted in a chosen place in the garden or in a pot without injuring the root system.
When planting, the cut is immersed in the substrate almost horizontally, while it is not recommended to sprinkle the back of the shoot with earth. It is better to press the base of the shoot against the wall of the container so that the top has room for its growth. The transplanted plants are placed in a warm place, shading from the direct rays of the sun. When visible signs of rooting appear, you can transplant the calamus cuttings to a permanent place in the open ground.
Difficulties in caring for calamus and ways to solve them
Even though Acorus does not cause problems in leaving, the following troubles can happen:
- Drying of the tips of the leaves or when they have acquired a brown color, then the reason for this is the low humidity in the room or the plant does not have enough moisture when growing in the open field.
- Yellowed or blackened leaves indicate an elevated temperature or too bright lighting. It is recommended to transfer to a cool shaded place, water and spray abundantly.
- Rhizome decay can occur due to hypothermia.
If the temperature rises very much, then a red spider mite can attack the calamus, due to which the leaves of the plant turn yellow and curl. For the fight, spraying with acaricidal or insecticidal preparations is carried out.
Facts to note about calamus, photo
It is not a bad idea to grow calamus with the umbrella suede next to it, especially during the flowering period of the latter, and also the marsh marigold looks beautiful next to it, with a host of low varieties, candelabra primroses or dwarf-sized astilbes. When grown in the garden, calamus cereal, which does not have frost resistance, then it is cultivated in containers in order to be able to transfer the plant to the room with the onset of cold weather. Otherwise, you will have to dig and plant in pots for the autumn-winter period.
This plant has long been known to man and is used not only as a decoration for ponds in the garden. He gained fame as a medicinal raw material thousands of years ago. Many preparations based on parts of calamus or calamus oil help with painful symptoms, have astringent and enveloping properties, can stop blood or serve as diuretics.
Due to the fact that the rhizome has a pleasant taste, it is eaten. Sweets are made on the basis of calamus roots in eastern countries, and are also used as an additive to meat dishes or fruit drinks.
Calamus types
Common calamus (Acorus calamus) is found under the names Marsh calamus, Reed calamus or Irny root. Under natural conditions, it grows in the southeastern regions of Asia, in Europe, it is not uncommon on North American soil, in our latitudes it is common in the European part of Russia, covers areas from the south of Siberia to the Far East. But the homeland is considered the lands of India and China, through the help of man, the plant has spread further throughout Asia. It is applicable both in medicine and in the food industry or as a spicy aromatic herb.
The stem is upright, with three sides in cross-section, not branched. It has a flower shoot with pointed ribs, and one of them has a groove. Height can vary within 0, 5-1, 2 m, growing in our latitudes. The rhizome has an oblate-cylindrical shape, it is thick and spongy, it is located horizontally, its outlines are winding, the rhizome itself is creeping. Its diameter reaches 3 cm with a length of about 1.5 cm. Outside, the color is brownish or greenish-yellow, but the inside is a delicate whitish-pinkish shade. From the lower part, there are cord-shaped roots, which go deep into the soil up to half a meter.
The leaf plates, narrowed, ruled, are painted bright green, their outlines are xiphoid, fleshy. The width of the leaf is 5–2 cm with a length of 60–120 cm. On one side there are grooves, on the other, a pointed rib is visible. The arrangement is alternate, but the foliage grows in bunches separately, crowning the tops and lateral branches of the rhizomes. The stem resembles leaves. The leaf plates grow together so strongly that the inflorescence seems to emerge from the middle part of the leaf.
In the ear-shaped inflorescence, bisexual flowers are collected. Their sizes are small, the color is greenish-yellow. The shape of the inflorescence is in the form of a conical cylinder, reaching 4–12 cm in length with a diameter of about 1 cm, but when the fruits ripen, the diameter will be 2 cm. A large light green leaf is formed near the ear, completely covering it. Ripening fruits look like dryish berries of a longitudinal shape, with a red or greenish tint, filled with seeds inside.
The decorative variety "Variegatus" is widespread, possessing striped leaf plates, while at first the color of the stripes is pink, and then it takes on a beige color. Florists are advised to use this cultivar as a companion plant when growing bonsai.
Since the insecticidal properties of this species are widely known, it is used to design artificial reservoirs.
Calamus cereal (Acorus gramineus) or as it is also called Calamus cereal. This variety is very similar to the previous one, but in smaller sizes. Erect sheet plates take on a more elegant look, they are soft to the touch. The height of the plant varies in the range of 15-30 cm. The width of the leaves is about 0.6 cm. The ear-shaped inflorescence reaches 2.5 cm in length. It is this plant, even in spite of the love for humid areas, is applicable as a room culture or as a representative of aquarium flora, since it does not have the ability to grow strongly. Of these varieties suitable for home cultivation, there are:
- Pusillus (Pusillus), not exceeding 20 cm in height, leaf plates are thin and drooping outlines;
- Variegatus has a variegated color of green leaves, where there are longitudinal whitish or cream stripes. The height of the plant can vary within 60–80 cm.
Air Tatarinov (Acorus tatarinowii). The native lands of growth are in China. The variety is named after a Russian diplomat who was engaged in botany, studied Chinese culture and had a medical practice - Alexander Alekseevich Tatarinov (1817-1886).
