Abstract

The identification of the plant treated by Dioscorides in his chapter “äkopov” Still today gives reason to errors. This fact justifies the presentation of some hitherto neglected aspects of the confusion of the nomenclature referring to this plant. Especially the synonyms of those plants which were confound with or by which the sweet flag (Acorus calamus L.) was substituted are examined in this study of quotations found in herbals and recipes from the antiquity and the Middle Ages up to the early modern times. In order to answer the question which plants were actually used in the practice of pharmacotherapy at times one would propose to compare the corresponding recipes, a method which could lead to a new kind of index of simplicia.