Sunshine is a populated place in

Iberville Parish Iberville Parish () is a parish located south of Baton Rouge in the U.S. state of Louisiana, formed in 1807. The parish seat is Plaquemine. The population was 30,241 at the 2020 census. History The parish is named for Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberv ...

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The community is now partially within the city limits of St. Gabriel. Located approximately 15 miles south of

Baton Rouge Baton Rouge ( ; , ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It had a population of 227,470 at the 2020 United States census, making it List of municipalities in Louisiana, Louisiana's second-m ...

along the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

, the community was originally named Forlorn Hope by inhabitants, but was given its current name by Oscar Richard, Sr., who was the post master of the Forlorn Hope, La., post office. He petitioned the federal government for permission to change the name of the post office to Sunshine in order to give it a more uplifting name. As frequently happens, the villages took the name of the local post office; hence, the name of the village and community became known as Sunshine. Much of the community was annexed to St. Gabriel in 1987, excluding a peninsula along the river. The ZIP Code for Sunshine is 70780.

Sunshine grass

The "Sunshine" type of vetiver grass, whose roots have long been used in Louisiana as an

insect repellent An insect repellent (also commonly called "bug spray" or "bug deterrent") is a substance applied to the skin, clothing, or other surfaces to discourage insects (and arthropods in general) from landing or climbing on that surface. Insect repellent ...

, was given that name by the USDA in 1989 for Sunshine, Louisiana, where Eugene LeBlanc Sr. 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. Vetiver was clonally introduced throughout the tropics in the 19th century, and

DNA fingerprinting DNA profiling (also called DNA fingerprinting and genetic fingerprinting) is the process of determining an individual's deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) characteristics. DNA analysis intended to identify a species, rather than an individual, is cal ...

has shown that almost all the vetiver grown worldwide for

perfume Perfume (, ) is a mixture of fragrance, fragrant essential oils or aroma compounds (fragrances), Fixative (perfumery), fixatives and solvents, usually in liquid form, used to give the human body, animals, food, objects, and living-spaces an agre ...

ry,

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

, and

bioengineering Biological engineering or bioengineering is the application of principles of biology and the tools of engineering to create usable, tangible, economically viable products. Biological engineering employs knowledge and expertise from a number ...

is essentially the same nonfertile

cultigen A cultigen (), or cultivated plant, is a plant that has been deliberately altered or selected by humans, by means of genetic modification, graft-chimaeras, plant breeding, or wild or cultivated plant selection. These plants have commercial val ...

as Sunshine. 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.''Assumption University Journal of Technology'' 2(4)(Apr. 1999):173-180
/ref>

References

Neighborhoods in Louisiana Populated places in Iberville Parish, Louisiana Louisiana populated places on the Mississippi River {{Louisiana-geo-stub