CYMBOPOGOfcf 



ANDROPOGON 



PERFUME- YIELDING GRASSES 



D.E.P., 

 i., 244-52. 



Economic 

 Species. 



Influence of 

 Cultivation. 



Distribution. 



Edible Grass. 



of the dry beans as 1:1-7, and the nutrient value 79. In certain districts, such 

 as Meerut, where this plant is regularly and largely grown as cattle food, the 

 breed of animals met with is remarkably fine a high testimony to the care taken 

 of them. 



CYMBOPOGON, Spreng., PL Min. Cogn. Pugil, 1815, ii., 14 ; 

 Andropogon, Linn., subgen. Cymbopogon, Benih. & Hook., Gen. PL, iii., 

 pt. 2, 1133 ; Hack., in DC., Monog. Phaner., 1889, vi., 592 ; Fl. Br. 

 Ind., vii., 202-10 ; Stapf, Kew Bull., 1906, 302-64 ; GRAMINE.E. 



I have decided to retain Ct/tnbopogon as a separate genus instead 

 of placing it under Andropogon, but I confess to being influenced more 

 by industrial than botanical considerations. While engaged writing the 

 brief account that follows, of the Indian economic species, certain speci- 

 mens were received at Kew, which necessitated a re-examination of the 

 genus or rather the sub-genus Cymbopogon. Dr. 0. Stapf entered on 

 this study energetically, and his report which has since appeared deals 

 with the botanical aspects more thoroughly than can be attempted in 

 this work. He has, however, most obligingly permitted me to consult 

 him freely, and has done me the favour to read through the brief 

 abstract of the subject here given, and to offer useful suggestions. It 

 may be said that the practical result of his studies is the definite 

 establishment botanically of the plant that yields the Lemon-grass Oil of 

 India as distinct from the Citronella Oil of Ceylon. 



The present may be described as a genus of grasses that contains some forty 

 species, widely dispersed in the tropics, principally of the Old World, rare in the 

 temperate regions, as also in America. The species that are of chief economic 

 value are aromatic, but it would almost seem as if that property had been acquired, 

 or rather was dependent on environment for its existence or its intensity. There 

 are four essential oils recognised by the chemist and in trade. These are Palmarosa 

 (Rusa), Citronella, Lemon-grass, and Ginger-grass Oils. While that is so, a few 

 writers have affirmed that these are not necessarily the produce of separate plants, 

 but may 'be a consequence of climate and soil or of methods of cultivation and 

 seasons of collection, or systems of preparation if not even degrees of adulteration. 

 It is certainly the case that a species or variety that will yield the oil for which 

 it is noted in one region, may not do so (or only to a very small extent) in another. 

 But while environment doubtless exercises a powerful influence, it seems certain 

 that the properties recognised by the chemist can alone be secured by the culti- 

 vation of particular forms that are known to yield these. It accordingly follows 

 that the selection of stock with this (as with all other cultivated plants) be- 

 comes a question of supreme importance. In India one or more species of 

 <'>/ntin>inffon occur from the extreme north in Afghanistan, Baltistan, Tibet 

 and Sikkim, to the extreme south at Cape Comorin. And what is more sur- 

 prising, some of the forms are dispersed from the tropical plains to the temperate 

 alps. One exists in the vegetable gardens of the well-to-do from one end of 

 India to the other (a few roots, at most, in each garden), the leaves being plucked 

 and used in cookery (Firminger, Man. Gard. 2nd., 322). That particular plant 

 appears, however, to flower very rarely, and it has accordingly not as yet been 

 satisfactorily described. In the Dictionary I assumed, as others had done, 

 that AiHiropoyon citmttis, DC. t might be the Indian garden plant. The name 

 citratus suited its properties and popular reputation. De Candolle has no- 

 where, however, described the plant to which he gave that name, but Nees (Allg. 

 Oartenzeit., 1835, 265) accepted A. dtmttis, DC, Recently a fairly extended 

 cultivation of what is spoken of as Lemon Grass has taken place in Travancore 

 and Cochin. The oil obtained from that plant has been pronounced different 

 from and very much superior to either the citronella of Ceylon or the rusa 

 of the Deccan. The rapidly expanding trade in this Cochin oil has caused an 

 inquiry to be instituted with a view to extending its cultivation in the West 

 Indies. The oft-repeated statement that it exists in India both " wild and 

 cultivated" is, however, distinctly misleading. In Ceylon C. \ai-dus might 

 be spoken of as systematically cultivated, but there is no production of it in 

 India for commercial purposes. 



450 





