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 (Song of Songs 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” (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 Israel, 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.

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