Hierochloe odorata

Hierochloe odorata
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Monocots
(unranked):	Commelinids
Order:	Poales
Family:	Poaceae
Genus:	Hierochloe
Species:	H. odorata
Binomial name
Hierochloe odorata (L.) P. Beauv.
Synonyms
Anthoxanthum nitens (Weber) Y. Schouten & Veldk.

Anthoxanthum nitens (Weber) Y. Schouten & Veldk.

Hierochloe odorata or Anthoxanthum nitens (commonly known as sweet grass, manna grass, Mary’s grass, or vanilla grass, and as holy grass in the UK, bison grass in Poland) is an aromatic herb native to northern Eurasia and North America. It is used in herbal medicine and in the production of distilled beverages (e.g., Żubrówka, Wisent). It owes its distinctive sweet scent to the presence of coumarin.

This variety of grass is different from the species commonly known as buffalo grass (Stenotaphrum secundatum) in Australia.

Hierochloe odorata is a very hardy perennial, able to grow to the Arctic Circle. Its leaves do not have rigid stems, so only grow to about 20 cm (7.9 in) in height, and then the leaves grow outward horizontally to 100 cm (39 in) long or more, by late summer. The base of the leaf, just below the soil surface, is broad and white, without hairs; the underside of the leaf is shiny, without hairs. In the wild, the bases of the leaves are frequently purple-red colored, and this indicates a phosphorus-deficient soil.

There are several strains of sweetgrass — a regular strain that can be harvested once or twice a year, and a naturally occurring polyploid strain, which is much faster growing and can be harvested three to five times a year.

Two chemicals found in sweetgrass, phytol and coumarin, repel mosquitoes.

The name Hierochloe odorata is from the Greek, literally "holy fragrant grass". Some authors include Hierochloe in Anthoxanthum; in this case this species is given the epithet nitens to avoid confusion with a different species, Anthoxanthum odoratum, sweet vernal grass.

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Wikipedia