Sweetgrass - Hierochloe Odorata - is there an essential oil?

[Guest guest]

Hello,

Is there a Sweetgrass (Hierochloe Odorata) essential oil? There are

some websites selling it, but if you scroll down on the following page:

http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Hierochloe+odorata

and read the user comments, it seems like there is only a hydrosol?

Many thanks,

Boris

[Guest guest]

At 07:20 AM 2/1/2007, you wrote:

>Hello,

>

>Is there a Sweetgrass (Hierochloe Odorata) essential oil? There are

>some websites selling it, but if you scroll down on the following page:

>

>http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Hierochloe+odorata

>

>and read the user comments, it seems like there is only a hydrosol?

The reference given is incorrect. It was written by an herbalist who

may have been fooled by a sweetgrass FO, of which there are many.

I bought a huge braid of it at an Indian fair and tinctured it, and

it is lovely, but I don't covet it because there are so many

coumarin-scented plants, like tonka, liathrus, melilot, etc., that

the scent is easily obtained from other sources. It is nice, however,

to be able to say there is sweetgrass in a perfume, naturally, which

I will be able to claim when I make a prarie perfume.

Anya McCoy

Anya's Garden of Natural Perfume http://anyasgarden.com

Artisan Natural Perfumers Guild http://artisannaturalperfumers.org

Natural Perfumers Community Group

/

[Guest guest]

" Is there a Sweetgrass (Hierochloe Odorata) essential oil? "

Hi Boris,

We tried to distill sweetgrass a couple of times. It did not yield

itself to that process for us and I suspect it does not for others,

either. I have not had good luck finding it to purchase in bulk.

We did manage to get some, once, from a man who lives in the

midwest. I happen to love this plant very much and the odor of it.

It has sacred significance in Native American tradtion; brings peace

and purification, honors ancestors in ritulas. Some tribes assign it

as the Plant Spirit keeper of the North and it is known as

Grandmother's hair. I tincture it to get that sweet coumarin note and

have made a couple of perfumes with that tincture. In particular, for

the last several years, I have been making a blend of the 4

directions with sweetgrass tincture, tobacco absolute, cedarwood, and

sage.

Best,

Debbie

[Guest guest]

" Is there a Sweetgrass (Hierochloe Odorata) essential oil? "

Hi Boris,

We tried to distill sweetgrass a couple of times. It did not yield

itself to that process for us and I suspect it does not for others,

either. I have not had good luck finding it to purchase in bulk.

We did manage to get some, once, from a man who lives in the

midwest. I happen to love this plant very much and the odor of it.

It has sacred significance in Native American tradtion; brings peace

and purification, honors ancestors in ritulas. Some tribes assign it

as the Plant Spirit keeper of the North and it is known as

Grandmother's hair. I tincture it to get that sweet coumarin note and

have made a couple of perfumes with that tincture. In particular, for

the last several years, I have been making a blend of the 4

directions with sweetgrass tincture, tobacco absolute, cedarwood, and

sage.

Best,

Debbie