Indigenous Medicine - Sweetgrass

Thank you for visiting the Faculty of Medicine’s sweetgrass garden. Sweetgrass has a wide range of medicinal, ceremonial, and practical uses and applications. Many of its time-honored uses originate with the Peoples of the Great Plains, Canadian Prairies, and Eastern Woodlands. Sweetgrass can be identified by its purple stems and vanilla-like aroma. Its sweet smell comes from its coumarin, which can be carefully prepared as an effective anticoagulant. Other preparations of sweetgrass are used to treat coughs, sore throats, and congested nasal passages, as well as skin damage and a variety of other injuries and ailments. Sweetgrass is also frequently prepared for ceremonial use. For instance, when dried and braided, sweetgrass is often burned during the smudge ceremony. Given its medicinal and ceremonial significance, it is considered by many to be one of the four most sacred medicines (along with cedar, sage, and tobacco). When burned together, these medicines reduce airborne bacteria and other pathogens. Sweetgrass is also an effective mosquito repellent and a durable material for weaving baskets and other items that are both practical and aesthetically appealing.

We thank you for not picking the sweetgrass, as there are protocols for how and when it is harvested. If you would like some of this sweetgrass or would like to be part of the harvesting ceremony, please contact the Faculty of Medicine’s Indigenous Health Office at 709-864-6621 or indigenoushealth@mun.ca for more information.

Did you know that people braid sweetgrass in meaningful ways? 

A braid is often made by intertwining three bundles of sweetgrass. For many, the three bundles signify the body, mind, and spirit. Each of these bundles are made from seven strands of sweetgrass. The first seven represent the seven generations that came before us. Another seven represent the seven generations that will come after us. The remaining seven represent the seven sacred teachings that help us connect to them, each other, and the world around us in a good way: respect, honesty, courage, wisdom, truth, humility, and love. While a single strand of sweetgrass can be easily broken, it becomes nearly impossible to break when woven together with the others.

The information on this page is community informed. If you would like to contribute to the content of this page, then please email indigenoushealth@mun.ca.

Additional Ethnobotanic and Ethnopharmacological information can be found at:

Nautiyal, C. S., Chauhan, P. S., & Nene, Y. L. (2007). Medicinal smoke reduces airborne bacteria. Journal of ethnopharmacology, 114(3), 446–451. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jep.2007.08.038

Perez, V., Alexander, D. D., & Bailey, W. H. (2013). Air ions and mood outcomes: a review and meta-analysis. BMC psychiatry, 13, 29. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-244X-13-29

Slapšytė, G., Dedonytė, V., Lazutka, J., Mierauskienė, J., Morkūnas, V., Kazernavičiūtė, R., Pukalskas, A., & Venskutonis, P. (2013). Evaluation of the Biological Activity of Naturally Occurring 5,8-Dihydroxycoumarin. Molecules, 18(4), 4419–4436. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules18044419

Stevens, M., & Winslow, S. (2002). SWEETGRASS: Hierochloe odorata (L.), Natural Resources Conservation Service, United States Department of Agriculture. https://plants.usda.gov/DocumentLibrary/plantguide/pdf/pg_hiod.pdf