Calamus: The Latin for cane, Hebrew Kaneh, mentioned
(Exodus 30:23) as one of the
ingredients in the holy anointing oil, one of the sweet scents
(The Song of Solomon 4:14) and among the articles sold in the markets of Tyre
(Ezekiel 27:19)
The word designates an Oriental plant called the "sweet flag," the
ocorus calamus of Linnaeus. It is elsewhere called "sweet cane"
(Isaiah 43:24; Jeremiah 6:20) It has an aromatic smell, and when its knotted
stalk is cut and dried and reduced to powder, it forms an ingredient
in the most precious perfumes. It was not a native of Palestine, but
was imported from Arabia Felix or from India. It was probably that
which is now known in India by the name of "lemon grass" or "ginger
grass," the Andropogon schoenanthus.
