Sunshine is a northern neighborhood of the city of St. Gabriel in Iberville Parish, Louisiana, United States. Located approximately 15 miles south of Baton Rouge along the Mississippi River, the community was originally named Forlorn Hope by inhabitants but was given its current name by business owners Matilda Hickman and Maurice Broussard in 1944. The community was annexed to St. Gabriel in 1987.
The "Sunshine" type of vetiver grass, whose roots have long been used in Louisiana as an insect repellent, was given that name by the USDA in 1989 for Sunshine, Louisiana, where Eugene LeBlanc grew a heritage clone given to his grandparents by Felix Perilloux, who in turn had acquired it from his wife Myrthee Froisy Perilloux in the 1860s.[1][2] Vetiver was clonally introduced throughout the tropics in the 19th century, and DNA fingerprinting has shown that almost all the vetiver grown worldwide for perfumery, agriculture, and bioengineering is essentially the same nonfertile cultigen as Sunshine.[3] This type of essential-oil vetiver is known by various names in different locations (e.g., 'Monto' in Australia), but because "Sunshine" was the earliest name used in modern times, that is how it is collectively known throughout the world today.[4]