Sedative calamus

Calamus has been used for centuries to treat gastrointestinal distress, including colic in children, and as a sedative. A rhizome infusion is used to treat fevers and dyspepsia, and chewing the rhizome is recommended to clear the voice, relieve dyspepsia, aid digestion, and remove tobacco odor from the breath. The powdered rhizome is used as a cooking spice, as is calamus oil, which is responsible for the plant s odor and taste. In the U.S., calamus was once used to flavor tooth powders, beer, bitters, and various tonics, although it is no longer used today. 

Sweet Flag root contains asarone, a precursor of TMA-2, a phenethylamine which is reputedly 18 times more potent than mescaline. This fact is undoubtedly the source of its rather uncertain reputation as a drug - no one seems certain whether it is a stimulant, a sedative, a hallucinogen or even all three at once. (I ve never encountered anyone who actually ate any.) There is evidence that the North American subspecies may be deficient in asarone certainly, the DEA isn t losing any sleep over trying to control Calamus ingestion. 

Suggestions that North American Indians may have taken Acorus calamus in a ritual context, are frequently accompanied by statements that this plant has sedative properties due to its asarone fraction. Unfortunately, such statements are based on studies with samples from India. There is considerable evidence that a substantial asarone fraction cannot be expected in diploid plants of North America, but only in triploid and tetraploid specimens of the Old World. ... 

The psychoactive effects of Ascora calamus in humans are not well documented, but there is limited evidence that the plant is used as an ingredient in intoxicating Indian ritual snuffs (de Smet, 1985), and the crude plant potentiates barbiturate and ethanol-induced sedation in mice (Anonymous, 1996). Cis-isoasarone is thought to be the component of calamus responsible for these sedative properties. 

In mice, an alcohol extract of calamus roots and rhizomes at doses of 10-50 mg/kg administered intraperitoneally exhibited sedative properties as evidenced by decreased amphetamine-induced and spontaneous motor activity, but was less potent than chlorpromazine in this regard (Panchal et al.,... 

---