277 



with citronella oil. Strunk distilled 10 kilos of the fresh grass with 

 water, and obtained a yield of • 38 per cent oil With the primitive 

 means at his disposal he was able to ascertain that this oil contains 

 about 15 per cent, of an aldehyde, which appears to be identical with 

 citronellal. 



According to the foregoing, the grass cultivated at Victoria, of which 

 it had not hitherto been possible to determine the species as the plant 

 never reached the flower stage, may possibly be identical with 

 Andropogon Nardus, L., which in the East Indies is cultivated on a 

 large scale for the production of citronella oil. 



It has repeatedly attracted our attent;on, that when it is a question 

 of their origin, the Andropogon grasses are frequently confounded 

 with each other. The thought which first occurs is, that such con- 

 fusion is caused by the omission of the name of the author after the 

 designation of the species. But this does not apply in every case, for 

 there are some exactly-defined species indicated as the mother-plants 

 of oils which, according to our information, could not possibly be pro- 

 duced from them. We will give some examples of this, Tschirch, in 

 his work " Indische Heil — und Nutzflanzen"* mentions on pago 124 

 Andropogon Schoennnthus, L., as the mother-plant of lemon grass oil. 

 The same statement is made in the chapter Oramineae edited by Hackel, 

 in Engler and Prantl's " Naturlichen Pflanzenfamilien"; the oil obtained 

 from it is said to be met with in commerce as " lemon oil". Sadebeck** 

 also states, that Andropogon Schoenanthus, L , is cultivated in some 

 parts of East Africa, and that the fragrant lemon grass oil is distilled 

 from it. But at the same time he mentions also, that this oil is used 

 for adulterating rose oil, and thereby (and also by referring to the 

 synonymous words rusa, palmarosa, or Turkish geranium oil) he 

 identifies it with palmarosa oil. Finally, the annual report of the 

 Buitenzorg Botanical Gardens also mentions Andropogon Schoenathus, 

 L. (sereh) as the mother-plant of lemon grass oil. 



Lemon grass Oil. The value of this article has undergone consider- 

 able fluctuations. The lowest point was reached in November, at 4d. 

 per oz. whilst at the present time it cannot be bought below 5|d. 



The export from Cochin amounted in 1902 to only 2,350 cases, but, 

 on the other hand, fresh sources of supplies have appeared, which in 

 the near future may possibly make competition to the present mono- 

 poly. 



To all appearances the cultivation of Andropogon grasses in the 

 West Indian Islands, to which we referred in our last October Report, 

 is extending. We have lately received two further samples of Andro- 

 pogon oils from the Grovernment. Liboratory in Jamaica. On one of 

 these oils we have already reportei under the heading citronella oil ; 

 the other one was, like the previous one from Antiguaf designattd as 

 having been obtained from Andropogon Schoenathus, but it has such a 

 pronounced odour of lemon grass oil, that we have no hesitation in 

 calling it by that name. It compares favourably with the Antigua oil 



* Berlin 1892. R. Gaertner 



**Die Culturgewachse der deutschen Colonieu. Jena 1899, p. 247. 



t Report October, 1902, 60. 



