CYMBOPOGON 



LEMON-GRASS oil, NARDUS 



C'ulinary Iemon-gra8B 

 (c) C. cltratus, Stapf, Kew Bull., 1906, 322-30; Andropogon Schccnanthu*. Linn. D.E.P., 



(loth ,-,!). IT.'.lt. i:U)4, Sp. PI. note; Roxb., Fl. />/.. . . L'T I S| l>al/. and j 242-4- 

 /V. /fw/>.. iHtil (snppl.). '-''.; A.citrattu, Trim. <b Hook., Handbook Fl. 

 'Hi; Itidloy, Juurn. Roy. A. Soc. (Straits Branch), 1891,3. l.'-rmui 

 grass of Iiulian vegetable gardens. Thin is the oli-cha, nili or lili-cha, hirva-cha 

 I, i'iiMhanap-puUaorvaana~pillu,nimma-gaddi, dgya-ghaa or agin ghd*. 

 Tin- iiuiiix i-lin (ton) is doiihtlrss Chinese in origin but has been used in India for 

 ci'iitiirii's, and indicates doubtless the use of the leaves as a flavouring ingredient. 

 i. The employment of such terms denotes, however, recent knowledge or 

 r.iih'-r Kiiropotui knowledge of the grass. It is thus the edible lemon-grass or Indian 

 \crbona <>f Europeans. 



Stapf informs me that he makes the sereh of the kitchen gardens of the 

 lays, which is identical with the Lemon-grass of Singapore, correspond with 

 lt Burden plant of India. It was probably first mentioned by Franc. 

 Miirtiiiolln-; ( ir.(4), and the earliest unmistakable description of it was given by 

 iufl N'ieremberg (Hist. Nat., 1635, lib. xv., ch. 19, 343), who called it tanglat, 

 a name still in use in the Philippines. It is next mentioned by Bontius (Hist. 

 \,it. it. Med. 2nd. Or. in Piso, Ind. Utri. re Nat. et Med., vi., 148), but Herbert de 

 Jager in a letter to Rumphius, published by Valentini (Hist. Simpl., 1732, 392), 

 unts out that Bontius was wrong, and that schcpimntiittn does not grow in 

 iva ; Jager calls the plant sire, and this is apparently the first occurrence of that 

 ne. Kuinphius, in a letter to D. W. ten Rhyne, also employed the name 

 but added that it might be called the sterile Indian Nehariinntimit in order 

 ' distinguish it from the Arabian (Herb. Amb., v., 181, t. 72, f. 2). Sam Browne 

 :. Ind. PI. in. Phil. Trans., 1702, xxiii., 1251-2) remarked that this grass was in 

 i day used by the Portuguese women at Fort St. George, but was little esteemed 

 the Natives. It was met with in gardens near the sea coast, and had 

 9n introduced from Batavia about 1666 A.D. Lemon-grass was conveyed to 

 igland by Sir Joseph Banks in 1786. Roxburgh gave .4. s<-iiwn<tnnin* the 

 IL'U I i name of gandha-bend, but the description and the drawing made by him 

 ve little doubt that the plant in question was the present variety of .vrdiu. 

 Culinary Lemon-grass. From the observations already made (see p. 

 450) it may be inferred that hitherto the very greatest possible obscurity 

 has prevailed regarding the botanical sources of the lemon-grass oils of 

 lodern commerce. Before having seen Stapf's interesting report I had 

 .rittt'u that if not a perfectly distinct species (for which the name 

 itrtitus had been accepted in the Dictionary and might with advantage 

 continued), the present plant would prove one of the many races of 

 .\ar<liis. Apart from the fact that there is a plant widely cultivated 

 Indian gardens which is generally designated lemon-grass (Lisboa, 

 >. Grass, 1896, 87), and that a grass oil (named lemon-grass) is in South 

 idia obtained from a wild and apparently distinct plant (see C. flextiostis 

 ibove), there is the still further surprising circumstance that the trade 

 ecognises "lemon-grass oil " as produced inCeylon in addition tocitronella. 

 [Cf. Gildemeister and Hoffmann, Volatile Oils, 288-9 ; Ann. Rept. Roy. 

 rt. Gard. Ceylon, 1903, 15.] It would thus appear that the Ceylon 

 )lanters have for some time been regularly growing the lemon-grass 

 >il plant. 



To obviate possible confusion between the edible lemon-grass of India Malabar and 

 (f. i-itrtitti*) and the lemon-grass oil of Malabar (C. jtec*O9lt9), L 

 tapf uses for the latter the name Malabar or Cochin grass. Unfor- 

 mately, however, lemon-grass oil is by no means exclusively obtained 

 Malabar, and " lemon-grass " is likely, therefore, to be continued 

 designate the oil in commerce, irrespective of the local Indian usage 

 lentioned. But has it been proved that the lemon-grass (('. citrntu-tt) 

 xight not itself afford, or that it is not actually affording, an odor- 

 ferous oil ? It is understood that the lemon-grass oil of Ceylon is less 

 iluable than the lemon-grass oil of Travancore. But has it been definitely 



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