The mosquito-repelling activity of sweetgrass | Hacker News Reader

The mosquito-repelling activity of sweetgrass

bbc.com

27 pointsinm16 comments

If only the article had mentioned the Latin name of the plant. Wikipedia gives four possibilities: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_grass

Both possibilities mentioned to be native to America seem to have coumarin. Since this is what repels the mosquitoes perhaps it was irrelevant.

Hierochloe odorata

There is a lot of plants with coumarin in fact, not ony weeds.

Good to know, thanks.

Anecdotes are not data, of course, but my mosquito bite-riddled hide begged to differ with my grandmother's (and apparently, some scientists') belief that Avon's "Skin So Soft" worked as insect repellent back in the 1990s.

Have you tried Lemon Eucalyptus oil? The CDC (and EPA) seem to support the claim that it is a similar strength as DEET[0].

[0] - http://www.cdc.gov/media/pressrel/r050428.htm

Ha my grandma had that when I was growing up too. We'd spray it on when we went camping. Can't say I've ever known it to work, when we went fishing we'd always lather ourselves in DEET instead.

I just returned from a vacation in florida.

I can tell you that skin-so-soft definitely works against no-see-ums (or midges). It doesnt seem to have any effect at all on mosquitos.

I sprayed the oil on a table covered in both mosquitos and no-see-ums. the mosquitos flew away and the no-see-ums all died right where they were.

'flew away' is working, for some values of 'working'

https://www.prairiemoon.com/seeds/grasses-sedges-rushes/hier...

I know a young man, camped with him 100 times (Boy Scouts), who does not get bit by mosquitoes. Think about that. If he could bottle whatever it is, he would be a billionaire.

In the same vein: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20836800

Geraniol, linalool, and citronella compared (candles and diffusers, albeit indoors). Geraniol appeared most effective.

More by many of the same researchers: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20836800

I'm very hopeful some of these safe Deet alternatives become products. If you need a mosquito repellent, stand next to me and you won't get a single bite (my family is very appreciative).

Wikipedia tells me that coumarin is only a precursor to coumadin, and is not, therefore, a well-known rat poison and anticoagulant.

I hope WP is right.

It's good to be developing chemicals better than Deet, considering most Dermatologists would never use the stuff.

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