cannot fail to be of the greatesl use to all entering into 

 cultivation of Cotton in the West Endies, and we commend the number 

 to our readers tor careful perusal. The cost is sixpence per copy and 

 it can be obtained of agents or direct from Messrs Bowen & Sons, 

 Barbados. 



No one who intends to go into the cultivation of Cotton should 

 be without a copy of this excellent and valuable number of the West 

 Indian Bulletin. 



615. -PALMAROSA OIL GRASS. 



The following information by Dr. Otto Stapf, has been kindly 

 furnished by favour of Sir William Thistleton-Dyer, Director Royal 

 Gardens, Kew, in response to our enquiries : — 



Three distinct essential oils are produced from species of Andro- 

 pogon in India : 



1. Citronella oil from A. Nardus. 



2. Lemon Grass Oil (or Verbena Oil or Indian Melissa Oil). 

 This is usually attributed to A. citratus, DC. It is, however, 

 impossible to find out what' De Candolle meant by his A. citratus as 

 he never described the plants, and merely said " folia trita citri 

 odorem grate spirant" and " habitu fire Andropogonis Schoenanthi sed 

 major." Later writers (Dymock, Fluckiger and Hanbury, Watt) 

 applied the name A. citratus to the grass yielding Lemon Grass Oil, 

 but without describing the grass, (except quite vaguely as a tall, 

 coarse, glaucous grass). Several specimens in our herbarium marked 

 by the collectors as yielding Lemon grass oil or a Lemon grass oil, 

 are typical A. Schoenanthus L.. and there is practically no doubt that 

 the A. citratus of the later writers is identical with A. Schoenanthus 

 L., whatever A. citratus DC. may be. In any case the name A. 

 citratus will have to be dropped as ambiguous. 



3. Palmarosa Oil, (Rusa oil, Ginger Oil or Geranium oil). This 

 is produced principally in the Kandesh (Khandesh) collectorate and in 

 the Nimar district. Dymock (Mat. Med. West. India ed. II 848) 

 refers the grass yielding this oil to A. Schoenanthus, quoting A. 

 Martini. Roxb. and A. citratus, DC, as synonyms. His description 

 of the plant is. however, so vague that it is useless. If the assumption 

 that A. Schoenanthus, Linn, is the source of the Lemon grass oil is 

 correct, the Palmarosa oil grass, must be produced from a species other 

 than A. Schoenanthus or a variety of it, distinct from the typical form. 

 Which that is, we do not know at present. 



To settle this important question, it appears to be very desirable 

 to have well collected [specimens of this grass from the Khandesh or 

 Nimar district. 



OTTO STAPF. 

 16th February, 1904. 



