Sweetgrass

Sweetgrass / Foin d’odeur / Wiingash

FUN FACTS

• A perennial grass that grows near streams in dense mats reaching up to half a meter in height.
• One of the four sacred medicines recognized by many indigenous cultures in North America. In a traditional ceremony called ‘smudging’, sage is used to remove negativity while sweetgrass is used to return positivity.
• Contains two types of molecules demonstrated to repel mosquitoes: phytol and coumarin. The latter gives the plant its distinctive vanilla-like scent.

HOW REGREENING HELPS THIS SPECIES

• Sweet grass grows best in neutral soil conditions (pH 5.7 – 7.4). Liming activities carried out by the regreening efforts have reduced soil and water acidity, creating suitable growing conditions for this species.