Hierochloe odorata or Anthoxanthum nitens [1] (commonly known as sweet grass, manna grass, Mary’s grass or vanilla grass, and as holy grass in the UK, [3] bison grass e.g. by Polish vodka producers [4]) is an aromatic herb native to northern Eurasia and North America. It is considered sacred by many Indigenous peoples in Canada and the United States. It is used as a smudge 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. Počet zubrov v Poloninách úspešne rastie, je ich už 48 a v lete pribudnú mladé". Webnoviny. 9 March 2020. Archived from the original on 24 September 2021 . Retrieved 24 September 2021. bears hunting bison. In the past, especially during the Middle Ages, humans commonly killed bison for their hide and meat. They used their horns to make drinking horns.

As such, bison grass vodka remained an Old World specialty for many decades, occasionally brought in undeclared in travelers’ suitcases or showing up as not-quite-legal imports in restaurants and shops in Eastern European neighborhoods in bigger U.S. cities.True bison grass vodka, with unadulterated bison grass, is, however, available in some 80 other countries worldwide. Parnikoza, Ivan. "BISON YEAR IN UKRAINE". Terrestrial ecosystems research. Archived from the original on 24 September 2019 . Retrieved 24 September 2019. plains bison alive today are descendants of the last 116 wild bison. Plains bison were extirpated from Canada by 1888. Briggs, H. (19 October 2016). "Cave paintings reveal clues to mystery Ice Age beast". BBC.com. Archived from the original on 20 October 2016 . Retrieved 19 October 2016. The ancient Greeks and ancient Romans were the first to name bison as such; the 2nd-century AD authors Pausanias and Oppian referred to them as Hellenistic Greek: βίσων, romanized: bisōn. [7] Earlier, in the 4th century BC, during the Hellenistic period, Aristotle referred to bison as βόνασος, bónasos. [7] He also noted that the Paeonians called it μόναπος ( monapos). [8] Claudius Aelianus, writing in the late 2nd or early 3rd centuries AD, also referred to the species as βόνασος, and both Pliny the Elder's Natural History and Gaius Julius Solinus used Latin: bĭson and bonāsus. [7] Both Martial and Seneca the Younger mention bison ( pl. bisontes). [7] Later Latin spellings of the term included visontes, vesontes, and bissontes. [7]

European Bison: The Animal Files". Archived from the original on 15 March 2015 . Retrieved 14 May 2015. The total worldwide population recorded in 2019 was around 7,500 – about half of this number being in Poland and Belarus, with over 25% of the global population located in Poland alone. [6] For 2016, the number was 6,573 (including 4,472 free-ranging) and has been increasing. [52] Some local populations are estimated as: Besides humans, bison have few predators. In the 19th century, there were scattered reports of wolves, lions, tigers, and To make the vodka, first the grass is cut and laid out to dry in the open air. It is then bundled up into small bunches and the neutral spirit is forced through the bundles, absorbing the subtle flavor and color of the sweet grass. A single blade of the grass is added to each bottle although this is merely for aesthetics and doesn’t impart any flavor. Its greenish/yellow hue suggests a vegetal note that carries right through from the aroma to the aftertaste. orseginemzetipark.hu: Európai bölények az Őrségi Nemzeti Parkban". Archived from the original on 31 July 2020 . Retrieved 27 February 2020.American Bison: A Natural History, By Dale F. Lott, Harry W. Greene, ebrary, Inc., Contributor Harry W. Greene, Edition: illustrated, Published by University of California Press, 2003 ISBN 0-520-24062-6, 978-0-520-24062-9