Habitat

• Sweetgrass grows widely throughout North America, Europe and Asia. Its North American range extends from the Southwestern United States to the Pacific Northwest, including Alaska, and east to New England. It also grows throughout nearly all of Canada. You can usually find clumps of sweetgrass among shrubs and other grasses, but it rarely occurs in isolated stands. This moisture-loving plant prefers brackish or freshwater shorelines and commonly grows along the edges of marshes and swamps.
  
  

Identification

• Sweetgrass grows from 12 to 30 inches tall on average. The plants have hollow, upright stems and long, flat, narrow, grayish-green leaves, some of which have a purplish color near the base. The leaves are usually smooth, shiny and hairless, with rough edges. Four-inch-long panicles, or upright clusters of flowers, grow from the ends of the stems. Grass seeds follow the flowers. Most sweetgrass seeds are sterile; the plants reproduce through underground stems or rhizomes that send up new shoots.
  
  

Cultivation Requirements

• Sweetgrass is commercially available in some nurseries, depending on location. The United States Department of Agriculture released a cultivar called Hierochloe odorata "Spirit" in 2004. This variety has long leaves and a good survival rate. Sweetgrass is intolerant of drought and grows best in well-drained, consistently moist soil. It is well-adapted to cold weather. This perennial grass goes dormant when temperatures reach 40 degrees Fahrenheit but sends up new sprouts when temperatures rise in the spring. Sweetgrass tolerates full sunlight and partial shade.
  
  

Traditional Uses

• The Native American Odawa and Anishinabe societies considered sweetgrass a medicinal plant. The Chippewa added it to other plants such as bearberry and red willow and smoked it; they also braided it and wore it around the neck as jewelry. Tribes in the Northeast and Great Lakes regions created and decorated trays, bowls and baskets with sweetgrass. The Mi'kmaq tribe fanned the smoke on their bodies for purification in a process called smudging. Many other tribes burned clumps of sweetgrass to attract positive spiritual energy during religious rituals.