CYMBOPOGON 



MARTINI 



Rusa 



PERFUME-YIELDING GRASSES 



Age of Stock. 



Properties. 



C. Prov. 



Nimar Oil. 



Method of 

 Distillation. 



but mention is made of its having been procured from the Central Provinces, 

 and of its existing in Ceylon. A specimen was sent from the Botanic Gardens, 

 Nilgiri hills, with^a label bearing the following remark: "Wild on the 

 grassy hills about Ootacamund and from which species the oil, shown as 

 specimen No. 98, was obtained in Feb. 1902." 



According to Forsyth (1827) the best rusa oil is obtained from the first 

 few cuttings, and an inferior oil from the second crop of the plant. The authors 

 of the Pharmacographia Indica (1893, 558) say the grass is called motiya when 

 young and of a bluish colour, and soufiya when old and red-coloured. This 

 view was also advanced by Lisboa, who speaks of the change from the bluish- 

 green to the red inflorescence as a characteristic feature of the autumn in the 

 country where the grass is at all abundant. It would thus seem that certain 

 authors often uphold the opinion that the variety cwsins is but the autumn 

 condition of the variety yiartini, or perhaps rather that eteniiis is the less robust 

 condition found on dry soils as well as the autumn growth of Martini. In part 

 support of that view I would point out that while many writers, including the 

 original discoverer of the plant, speak of it as found on the dry hillsides, others 

 repudiate that statement and say it is met with only in low-lying damp or marshy 

 soils (Ind. For., 1901, xxvii., 602). On the other hand, the strictly botanical view 

 of the above varieties is supported by the author of the Khandesh Gazetteer (1880, 

 23), who says there are two forms which grow freely at Akrani, the one with 

 bluish flowers, called sophia, the other with white flowers, called motia ; the 

 oil from the last fetches the higher price. Duthie had two specimens sent to 

 him by a correspondent in the Central Provinces, who strongly maintained that 

 they were two distinct plants. 



Reasoning back from the chemical results, it would seem as if the varied 

 qualities of rusa oil might all be obtained from one or from more than one variety 

 of c. Mttrtini. but that c. xnrtinH, while it yields the varying qualities of ci- 

 tronella oil, is not capable of yielding rusa oil as well. The assumption that 

 the South Indian cultivators are producing lemon-grass oil from the same plant 

 as that from which they have recently begun to produce palmarosa (rusa) oil is, 

 therefore, not correct. And what is even more to the point, the reputation of their 

 lemon-grass oil, as rich in citral, will be destroyed should they take to mixing it 

 with rusa. These both afford geraniol, the perfume for which they are valued 

 by the soap manufacturers. [Cf. Gildemeister and Hoffmann, Volatile Oils, 132.] 



To the promising new industry in lemon-grass oil, definite knowledge re- 

 garding the individual properties of the plants grown may be said to prepare 

 the way for more rational efforts in production. As already stated, it is essential 

 to enforce recognition of four distinct oils Citronella, Lemon, Rusa and Ginger- 

 grass, with varying qualities of each, and in consequence to recognise four distinct 

 plants as affording these oils. The present species is that which yields : 



RUSA OIL. Central Provinces. The industry of preparing this oil, 

 so far as can be discovered, is a comparatively modern one. No mention 

 is made, in the list of court perfumes used by the Emperor Akbar in 1590, 

 of any form of grass-oil. [Cf. Ain-i-Akhari (Blochmann, transl), 57.] 

 The oldest detailed account of Indian rusa would seem to be that written 

 by Forsyth (Trans. Med. and Phys. Soc. Calc., 1827, iii., 213-8) regarding 

 the district of Nimar (Nemaur) of the Central Provinces hence the trade 

 name of Nimar oil. The grass, he says, is met with in frequent distinct 

 patches in the greatest abundance along the foot of the Vindhya hills in 

 the vicinity of Gaum Ghat, and thirty miles farther west on the tableland 

 of the same range near Nalcha, at which places only he believed it to be 

 prepared to any appreciable extent. By about the latter end of August it 

 begins to bud, and continues to flower in tolerable vigour till the end of 

 October, during which period alone it gives out the oil in sufficient quantity 

 to cover expense and trouble of preparation. 



The oil is obtained by distillation. A wrought-iron boiler is fitted 

 over an earthen fireplace and surmounted with a head from which two 

 straight tubes, from five to six feet in length and two inches in diameter, 

 conduct the vapour into a couple of large copper receivers immersed in 



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