ABOUT SWEETGRASSby Talzhemir
 Hierochloe odorata prefers moist sandy soil, and partial shade. It can withstand full sun in temperate climates and withstands winter excellently. Sweetgrass rarely produces seeds, and the seeds are seldom fertile. This hints that it may actually be
an ancient domestic gone feral, a minimally fertile hybrid grass bred for its scent and the length of its leaves. (Another popular grass domesticated thousands of years ago also relies entirely on humans for its propagation: corn on the cob, or "maize"-- without the human intervention of taking them off the cobs, corn kernels can't sprout.)
Sweetgrass spreads primarily through its roots. Two kinds of stems grow, the stout ones with flowers, and the lanky sterile stems. Sweetgrass is harvested by pulling off sterile stems. It's the sterile stems that are used for braiding and basketry. They grow 18-24 inches. One "plug" (a stem or two with a few inches of frizzly rhizome) can typically cover a square foot in a year. (It's recommended by growers that harvesting take place after this initial period.)
Wild stands of Sweetgrass are disappearing, due to "overpulling". When this biomass is removed from the sweetgrass stand, a little of the more precious trace nutrients is lost.
* NOTE: Sweetgrass Hierochloe odorata exists in wild stands in Connecticut, Maine, Massachussetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is classified as "endangered" in Maryland, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania. There are four other species species of sweetgrass (alpina, hirta, occidentalis, and pauciflora); they're not as strongly fragrant as odorata. In the practice of "wildcrafting", plants like Sweetgrass may
be harvested, and an "offering" of organic fertilizer is left behind.
Sweetgrass is excellently suited for wildcrafting: left to itself, a sweetgrass
stand tends to choke on herself. "Wildcrafters" are herbalists who gather
beneficial plants, sometimes very very loosely cultivating them. Wildcrafting is undergoing a revival, promoting the ethical idea that living on the earth is ideally a give-and-take, not just TAKE process.
The marvellous scent of sweetgrass is due to a chemical called
Coumarin. Coumarin is an anti-coagulant. It works by latching
onto the same molecules as the coagulant Vitamin K. Unfortunately,
it also damages the liver. When this effect was found, its use as a vanilla substitute was
banned. However, coumarin tablets are still prescribed to patients for a time after heart
surgery.
Coumarin is the chemical responsible
for sweetgrass's smell of fresh cut lawns or hay. Coumarin-derivatives may be given to
prevent dangerous bloodclots in bedridden patients including those with certain kinds of
cancer. Although Coumarin is too toxic to be a safe food additive or herbal tea, it is
still a valuable ingredient in perfumes and incense. It is also used to produce rodent poison Warfarin, which kills the animals by causing unstoppable internal hemorrhaging. (The commercial source of Coumarin is the tonka bean tree.)
Sweetgrass links: last edited: Jan. 31, 2005 ARTICLES Sweetgrass Stands Hurt by Wildcrafting :( |
