Compendium

Sweetgrass, Hierochloe odorata, is a hardy perennial grass of northern Eurasia and North America that can grow within the Arctic Circle; some botanists fold its genus into Anthoxanthum and call it Anthoxanthum nitens. Its long, narrow leaves are shiny beneath and often purplish red at the base, and they give off a vanilla-like smell as they dry, owing to coumarin, which also puts off grazing animals and, with phytol, repels mosquitoes. The genus name joins the Greek words for sacred and grass. Many Indigenous peoples of Canada and the United States hold the plant sacred: among the peoples of the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies it is one of the four sacred medicines, and it is braided, burned as a smudge or incense to carry prayers and to purify, woven into baskets, and given to elders as a mark of respect. In northern Europe it was strewn before church doors on saints' days, Sámi people kept braids of it with their clothes as a perfume, and in Poland it flavours vodka such as Żubrówka. Cunningham gives it one power, calling spirits, and has it burned to draw good spirits before spellwork. Kynes pairs it with air, water and Venus, and suggests wafting the smoke of a small braid over oneself before spiritual work or healing, and burning a little when working with spirit guides.