Hypertext Webster Gateway: "Calamus"
From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary (easton)
Calamus
the Latin for cane, Hebrew _Kaneh_, mentioned (Ex. 30:23) as one
of the ingredients in the holy anointing oil, one of the sweet
scents (Cant. 4:14), and among the articles sold in the markets
of Tyre (Ezek. 27:19). The word designates an Oriental plant
called the "sweet flag," the Acorus calamus of Linnaeus. It is
elsewhere called "sweet cane" (Isa. 43:24; Jer. 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. (See {CANE}.)
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Calamus \Cal"a*mus\, n.; pl. {Calami}. [L., a reed. See {Halm}.]
1. (Bot.) The indian cane, a plant of the Palm family. It
furnishes the common rattan. See {Rattan}, and {Dragon's
blood}.
2. (Bot.) A species of {Acorus} ({A. calamus}), commonly
called {calamus}, or {sweet flag}. The root has a pungent,
aromatic taste, and is used in medicine as a stomachic;
the leaves have an aromatic odor, and were formerly used
instead of rushes to strew on floors.
3. (Zo["o]l.) The horny basal portion of a feather; the
barrel or quill.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
calamus
n 1: any tropical Asian palm of the genus Calamus; light tough
stems are a source of rattan canes
2: the aromatic root of the sweet flag used medicinally
3: perennial marsh plant having swordlike leaves and aromatic
roots [syn: {sweet flag}, {sweet calamus}, {myrtle flag},
{flagroot}, {Acorus calamus}]
4: a genus of Sparidae [syn: {Calamus}, {genus Calamus}]
5: the hollow shaft of a feather [syn: {quill}, {shaft}]
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