Acorus gramineus 'Variegatus' or Variegated Japanese Sweet Flag, is a cultivar with a creamy-white and green variegation on its leaf-blades which gives the foliage a shimmering silvery quality which will brighten dark corners of the garden even in the depths of winter. The fan-shaped tufts of narrow linear leaves look like a grass or sedge or are reminiscent of a minature Iris but are completely unrelated to these plant groups. Once included in with the Aroids, the genus Acorus has now been reclassified with its own taxonomic Order, characterised by it tiny flowers being arranged on an elongated spathe-less spadix.

All Acorus love a moist soil and will quickly establish in such an environment, forming low ground-covering clumps. Acorus gramineus 'Variegatus' will tolerate very wet conditions and can be grown in any damp or boggy soil or as a water-marginal or even as an aquatic, standing in shallow water.

The foliage is sweetly fragrant when crushed.

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