Sweet Grass

You can tell it's Sweet grass if it's purple at the base and if it has a sweet vanilla-like smell when you rub it.  The fragrance comes from a compound called coumarin (Turner, 2018).  Sweet grass leaves don't have hairs.  They're shiny in the sun. 

Its blossoms emerge in three-flowered spikelets measuring 1/4 inch long.  Each flower cluster has its own stalk.  (Pendleton, 2017)

In Canada, common sweetgrass (Hierochloë hirta subsp. arctica) can often be found in dense patches growing near rivers, lake edges, and wet meadows. (Turner, 2018)

The best time to harvest it is late June to early July.  Cut the strands low to the ground and don't pull the stems because this will damage the root system.  Sweet grass actually grows better when it's harvested respectfully than when it's ignored; if you ignore it, it will go away (Kimmerer, p. 164).  Never take more than you need. 

Dry it by laying it in the sun for about six hours.  Unlike other types of grass, sweet grass leaves curl as they dry.  It can be used for braiding, basket making and ceremonial uses. (Indigenous Corporate Training Inc., 2012)

On the Great Plains, the Siksika (Blackfoot) call it sipátsimo and use it for daily smudging as well to purify dancers at major events such as the Sundance.

Sweetgrass medicine is mainly spiritual, but it can also help with cleansing the body, reducing secretions, relieving a sore throat, chapped skin, infections, and postpartum bleeding. (Gray, p. 168)  The Siksika also used sweetgrass leaves to treat saddle sores on their horses and as as a food energy source for the horses.  They also used it for colds, coughs and sore throats, and for an eyewash.  (Turner, 2018)

For a young girl in a difficult childbirth, four sweetgrass braids can be boiled and given to her to facilitate the delivery (Cree Elder, in Marles et al., p. 292).

Sweetgrass is used as an incense.  It can be burned to bless food before a feast or to bless people before a meeting or ceremony. (Cree Elders and Métis Elders, in Marles et al., p. 292)

Sweetgrass can be used as a room freshener, used to stuff pillows and mattresses, woven into baskets and hats, and as smudge, incense, or aromatherapy.  In parts of Europe it's used as a vodka flavouring. (Turner, 2018)