174 PHILIPPINE RESINS, GUMS, AND OILS 



fragrance is due to certain chemical compounds, numbers of 

 which exist in the flowers only in very minute quantities. Many 

 of the chemical substances inherent in plants may be prepared 

 synthetically. However, the odor of these synthetics is quite 

 different from that of the flowers, for the latter's scent can be 

 secured only when all the substances contained in the flower 

 are combined in the proper proportions. The fragrant flower 

 was the first perfume and still is the first. Although a large 

 number of synthetic perfumes are manufactured, the con- 

 sumption of natural perfumes is increasing. The former are 

 frequently used to fortify the natural perfumes and are also 

 mixed with them to produce new blends. 



Family GRAMINEAE 



Genus ANDROPOGON 

 ANDROPOGON CITRATUS DC. TanglAD or Lemon GRASS. 



Local names: Bardniio (Pangasinan) ; taiTglnd (Tagalog, Bikol). 



LEMON-GRASS OIL 



This grass is frequently cultivated, especially in India and 

 Ceylon, for its fragrant leaves. Bacon * remarks that in the 

 Philippines : 



It is cooked with stale fish to improve the taste and is used as a flavor 

 in wines and various sauces and spices; it is also used medicinally, being 

 applied to the forehead and face as a cure for headache, and an infusion 

 is held in the mouth to alleviate the suffering of toothache. 



The roots resemble ginger in flavor, though less pungent. 

 They are used as a condiment and for perfuming hairwashes 

 of gogo. 



When the grass is distilled it yields commercial lemon-grass 

 oil, or Indian verbena oil, which has a reddish-yellow color and 

 the intense odor and taste of lemons. Lemon-grass oil is used 

 in making perfumes, especially ionone (synthetic essence of 

 violets). 



According to Hood f about 100,000 pounds of lemon-grass oil 

 are used annually in the United States and the consumption of 

 it for the manufacture of ionone and other perfumery purposes 

 is continually increasing. He describes the distillation of the 

 grass as follows: 



* Bacon, R. F., Philippine terpenes and essential oils. III. Philippine 

 Journal of Science, Section A, Volume 4 (1909), page 111. 



t Hood, S. C, Possibility of the commercial production of lemon-grass 

 oil in the United States. United States Department of Agriculture Bul- 

 letin No. 442 (1917). 



