Contents:
Common Names | Parts Usually Used | Plant(s) & Culture | Where Found | Medicinal Properties | Biochemical Information
Legends, Myths and Stories | Uses | Formulas or Dosages | Growing Sweetgrass | How Sold | Warning | Resource Links
Scientific Names
- Hierochloe odorata
- Hierochloe hirta
- Hierochloe occidentalis (western species)
- Torresia odorata (historical name in Great Lakes region)
Common Names
- Vanilla grass
- Holy grass (Mary’s grass)
- Seneca grass
- Alpine sweetgrass
- Bluejoint
- Buffalo grass
- Bison grass
- Zebrovka
- Wiingash (Anishinaabe)
Parts Usually Used
The leaves and stems (typically braided when dried)
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Description of Plant(s) and Culture
Sweetgrass is a fragrant, rhizomatous, perennial grass that reaches a height of 30 inches (7 dm). The stems are hollow, hairless with open sheaths. Leaf blades are flat at maturity, usually glabrous, 3.9-11.8 inches (10-30 cm) long. The sweetgrass inflorescence is an open panicle 1.6-3.5 inches (4-9 cm) long with lower branches drooping to spreading. The spikelets are three-flowered, with the two lowest florets staminate (male) and the uppermost perfect (both female and male).
Sweetgrass is an early blooming plant that flowers from May to August and is easily identified by its sweet vanilla-like fragrance. The stems are upright and hollow, with elongated, narrow and flat leaves (up to ¼ inch wide). Its rhizomes and roots form a dense mat beneath the soil surface.
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Where Found
Sweetgrass is a circumboreal plant common above 40 degrees north latitude in Asia, Europe, and North America. In North America, it grows from Labrador to Alaska, and south to New Jersey, Ohio, Illinois, Iowa, South Dakota, Arizona, and Washington. It grows in wet meadows, low prairies, edges of sloughs and marshes, bogs, shaded streambanks, lakeshores, and cool mountain canyons.
Sweetgrass is becoming increasingly rare in the wild due to over-harvesting and habitat loss. It is listed as endangered or at-risk in many regions. It seldom grows in pure stands, usually appearing among other grasses or shrubs.
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Medicinal Properties
Sweetgrass contains coumarin, which gives it its characteristic sweet smell. It has purifying, calming, and healing properties that have been used for centuries in Native American traditions. Sweetgrass is considered one of the four sacred medicines by many tribes, along with tobacco, cedar, and sage.
Its medicinal properties include:
- Calming and stress-reducing effects
- Respiratory support
- Rich in antioxidants
- Mild digestive relief
- Nervine properties
- Anticoagulant effects (due to coumarin content)
Biochemical Information
Coumarin is the main active compound that gives sweetgrass its vanilla-like fragrance. Research has shown coumarin and related compounds to be effective in reducing high-protein edemas, especially lymphodema. However, coumarin also has potentially toxic properties and can cause liver injury and hemorrhages in high doses.
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Legends, Myths and Stories
Sweetgrass is called the “grass that never dies” by many Native American tribes. Even when cut, it retains its fragrance and spirit. The name Hierochloe literally translates from Greek as “sacred grass” (hieros) and “grass” (chloe) or “holy grass.”
Sweetgrass is often braided in threes, representing mind, body, and spirit, and is known by some tribes as “the hair of Mother Earth.” The braid symbolism is captured in the saying: “Sweetgrass is the hair of our Mother; separately, each strand is not as strong as the strands are when braided together.”
In the Medicine Wheel, sweetgrass is associated with the direction of the north and represents the color white. It symbolizes healing, peace, growth, and the cycle of life.
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Uses
Ceremonial and Spiritual Uses:
- Smudging ceremonies – burning dried braids for purification of spaces, objects, and people
- Prayer carrier – smoke helps carry prayers to the Creator
- Ceremonial incense in rituals like the Sun Dance
- Protection against negative energies and spirits
- Component of sacred medicine bags and protective amulets
- Pipe-smoking mixtures (combined with red willow and bearberry)
Medicinal Uses:
- Tea for treating coughs and sore throats
- Women’s medicine to stop vaginal bleeding after childbirth and to expel the placenta
- Treatment for venereal infections
- Infusion for windburn and chapping
- Eyewash when prepared as an infusion
- Treatment for nasal congestion when mixed with meadow rue
- Support for women after miscarriage
- Treatment for bladder issues
- Calming and anxiety-reducing herbal remedy
Cultural and Craft Uses:
- Basket making, often combined with other materials like birch bark
- Fragrant sachets for clothing and drawers
- Natural moth repellent
- Hair rinse for lustrous shine
- Personal perfume when carried or worn
- Decoration in cradleboards and ceremonial items
Formulas or Dosages
Sweetgrass Tea:
- Use only cultivated sweetgrass leaves, never wildcrafted unless you are a Native herbalist.
- Boil water and let it cool slightly.
- Pour hot water over a small bundle of dried sweetgrass leaves.
- Steep for 10-15 minutes.
- Strain and drink as needed for calming effects or respiratory support.
Smudging with Sweetgrass:
- Begin with a prayer, telling the Creator your reasons for smudging.
- Light one end of a sweetgrass braid and allow the flames to die out, leaving orange-red embers.
- Using your hand or a feather, direct the smoke to the areas or person being purified.
- For homes, start at the front door and move clockwise around the house.
- For individuals, guide smoke from head to foot.
- When finished, place the braid on a heat-safe surface and store safely when cool.
Growing Sweetgrass
Sweetgrass can be propagated from:
- Rhizome divisions (most reliable method)
- Seeds (more difficult, with low germination rates of 25-30%)
- Container or bare rootstock
Growing recommendations:
- Plant in full sun in light, loose soil
- Keep soil very moist but not waterlogged
- Plant on 3-foot centers; plants will fill in solid stands in 1-2 years
- Traditional harvesting involves taking only what is needed, leaving the best to reproduce
- When harvesting, cut leaves rather than pulling up roots
- Make a traditional offering (such as tobacco) before harvesting
How Sold
Sweetgrass is commercially available as:
- Dried braids for smudging
- Seeds and plugs for cultivation
- Dried leaves for tea
- Handcrafted baskets incorporating sweetgrass
- Ceremonial items and smudge sticks
However, ethical considerations are important when purchasing sweetgrass products. Many Native American communities consider commercial selling of sweetgrass problematic, and wild harvesting has led to significant population decline.
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Warning
Coumarin, which gives sweetgrass its characteristic sweet smell, is a natural anticoagulant with potentially toxic properties. It can cause liver injury and hemorrhages in high doses. Care should be taken when using sweetgrass tea medicinally.
Cultural considerations are also important. Sweetgrass is sacred to many Native American tribes, and non-Native people should approach its use with respect and sensitivity. Wild harvesting of sweetgrass should be avoided due to declining populations; cultivation is strongly recommended instead.
Sweetgrass populations are declining due to over-harvesting, habitat loss, and commercial exploitation. If you wish to use sweetgrass, consider growing your own rather than contributing to the depletion of wild stands.
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Resource Links
Gullah Geechee Herbal Medicine Traditions Preserved by Modern Teachers
Natural Resources Conservation Service – SWEETGRASS
Cree Board of Health and Social Services of James Bay (CBHSSJB) – Traditional Medicine: Sweetgrass
NativeTech: Native American Technology & Art – Uses for Sweetgrass
Old Ways Herbal – SWEETGRASS // TRUSTING THE PROCESS
