Description

Acorus americanus, American Sweet Flag, Native Perennial Plugs, Native Wetland Plant Plugs

Botanic Name (s): acorus americanus

Common Name(s): American Sweet Flag

Mature height :’3ft

Mature spread:3ft

Flower Color/ Bloom Time : Blue/Spring

Fall Color:yellow

Sun Exposure: full-part sun

Soil moisture: wet/moist

Soil Ph:

Soil Type:

Loamy Soil- y

Sandy soil, c

Native Habitat:

Notes:

Erosion Control Four Season Interest

Average Wildlife Value: Songbirds Small Mammals

FACUpl- Occur in wetlands and non-wetlands

Native To Mountain Regions

Native to Piedmont Regions

Native to Coastal regions

Acorus americanus, American Sweet Flag, Native Perennial Plugs, Native Wetland Plant Plugs

Native American use of several-veined sweetflag probably played a role in determining its distribution, as the plant was highly prized for its medicinal properties, widely traded, and wild-planted along trade routes. Disjunct populations now occur at sites that are close to old Native American villages. The rhizome contains the medicinal properties and is used to treat a variety of conditions from nausea, heartburn, and colds to fatigue and anxiety.

Sweet Flay, Acorus calamus, is a deciduous, spreading, marginal aquatic perennial that features iris-like, sword-shaped leaf blades typically growing in basal clumps to 30 inches tall. Although native to Europe, it was introduced into North America by settlers in the 1600s, and has naturalized over time throughout much of the United States.

Mature leaves have one slightly wavy edge and a prominent midrib. Plants thrive in wet, boggy soils and are commonly grown today as foliage accents in water gardens and pond margins. Insignificant tiny greenish flowers appear in elongated inflorescences which appear in late spring. Flowers may give way to tiny fleshy berries. Foliage and rhizomes are sweetly fragrant when bruised, hence the common name.

Habitats include sedge meadows that are prone to flooding, edges of small lakes and ponds, marshes, swamps, seeps and springs, and wetland restorations. Even though this is an introduced plant, it has been found in both high quality and degraded wetlands.

Easily grown in average, medium to wet soils in full sun to part shade. Grows well in both boggy conditions and consistently moist garden soils. In water gardens, plant rhizomes slightly below the soil surface in moist soils at the water’s edge or in containers set in shallow water. Rhizomes or existing clumps may also be planted in containers sunk into wet boggy areas to help prevent any possible invasive spread. Slowly naturalizes by creeping rhizomes and can form large colonies in the wild.

See all Herbaceaous Emergents, Wetland Plants