Single Record

Species: Anthoxanthum nitens [Anthoxanthum hirta] [Hierochloë hirta] [Anthoxanthum hirtum subsp. arcticum] [Anthoxanthum nitens] [Hierochloë subsp. arcticum] [Hierochloë odorata], etc.

PhotoRecords: Cecelia Alexander Conejos Co, 9 km SW of Black Mountain, 29 June 2018

Comments: Sweetgrass, named for its fragrance, has been vouchered somewhat often from the mountain ranges on both sides of the Valley. Anthoxanthum nitens [Anthoxanthum hirta]—cool-season and perennial—can be found from upper montane to tundra, growing in meadows and on alpine knolls. The current scientific naming of this species reads like a description of a three-ring circus. POWO (July 2026) says Anthoxanthum hirtum is a synonym of Anthoxanthum nitens, and cites 54 heterotypic synonyms--the name iNaturalist (2025) now follows (July 2026). Allred et al. (2020) find only Anthoxanthum odoratum [Hierochloë odorata] in New Mexico, the exotic species. Yet BONAP, under the name Anthoxanthum hirtum, shows the species continuing down the Rio Grande drainage through New Mexico (but no farther down stream). And BONAP shows "Anthoxanthum odoratum" found in only one county of New Mexico, Colfax. If POWO's Anthoxanthum nitens is accepted, the plant is native to both sides of the Atlantic. The source of the sweet smell is coumarin, a crystalline solid whose derivative, the fungal metabolite dicoumarol, acts as a anticoagulant and is poisonous to animals. Under the name Hierochloë hirta, Weber and Wittmann (2014) say that in Poland the plant is used to flavor vodka.