Sweet Flag   Acorus calamus   (Acorus americanus)

This plant, which contains a sweet fragrant oil, was once harvested for use in candies and  perfumes and for medicinal purposes. Its narrow sword-like leaves can reach heights of five to six feet.  The plant bears distinct finger-like miniature flower clusters that arch out from the leaf stalks.  Its fleshy rhizome roots form dense mats that hold the soil and help with land building.

image credits: Dennis W. Woodland, Wisconsin State Herborium, http://www.botany.wisc.edu/wisflora