316 
that is, C. Nardus. Pereira* (1850) seems to have been the 
first to use the term ‘citronelle oil’ as equivalent to ‘lemon 
grass oil.’ 
CITRONELLA OIL AND PLANTATIONS.—J. Bell,f in his notes 
on the London International Exhibition of 1851, mentions “ oil of 
citronelle, or oil of lemon grass.” He says it is imported from 
India, “and is the produce of a grass, known to botanists as 
Andropogon citratum and by some persons considered to be 
identical with Andropogon Schoenanthus.” In the Ceylon cata- 
logue of the Paris Exhibition of 1855, p. 17, we find two distinct 
oils: (1) Lemon-grass oil, from ‘A. Schoenanthus, and 
(2) “ Citronella oil ; citron oil; perfumery,” and against the latter 
there is in the Kew copy an entry in Alex. Smith’s handwriting : 
“ Citronella oil, Andropogon.” W. 8. Piesse, in his “Art of 
Perfumery” (1855), p. 31, also refers to ‘ Citronella,’ saying : 
‘‘Under this name there is an oil in the market, chiefly derived 
from Ceylon and the Kast Indies; its true origin we are unable to 
decide. In odour it somewhat resembles citron fruit, but is very © 
inferior. Probably it is procured from one of the grasses of the 
Andropogon genus.” Gladstonet (1872) and C. R. A. Wright§ (1874) 
“were the first to examine, under the name of * Citronella,’ the oil 
of C. Nardus, as is evident from their descriptions of the oil, but 
both referred it to ‘Andropogon Schoenanthus. Even as late as 
1880, it was confused with C. flexzuosus and C. citratus by Bentley 
and Trimen,| who figured a specimen of the former as Andropogon 
Nardus. In 1883 ‘Citronella’ was at last clearly confined to 
Andropogon Nardus by Watt, who gives the average exportation 
of citronella from Colombo as amounting to about 40,000 lbs.; the 
exact return for 1864 was 622,000 ounces. In 1872 the export 
had risen to almost 100,000 lbs. (1,595,257 ounces), in 1887 to 
501,706 lbs., and in 1899 to 1 478,756 lbs. Since then it has fallen to 
1,282,471 Ibs. in 1905. The area under cultivation is at present 
estimated at between 40,000 and 50,000 acres, and is almost entirely 
confined to the Southern Province, mainly between the Gin Ganga 
in the north-west and the Walawi Gunga in the east. 
Outside Ceylon A. Nardus has been in cultivation for some 
time in Penang, whence Citrenella oil is mentioned as early as 
1872 by Gladstone,** and in the Straits Settlements and Java. 
When it was introduced into the Malay Peninsula and Java is 
uncertain, but it cannot have been very long ago. McNair, in his 
book, “Perak and the Malays” (1878), p. 73, speaks of “the 
flourishing growth of citronelle and lemon grass, from which 
essential oils are extracted,” as worth mentioning; but in 1886, 
Cantley{f complains of the insufficient attention which the 
cultivation of these two grasses receives in the Straits, and in 1900 
the total area of citronella estates in the peninsula was estimated 
at only 2,000 acres at the highest.{{ In Java it is mentioned by 
* Pereira, Hlem. Mat. Med., ed. 3 (1850), p. 1027. 
+ Pharm. Journ. & Trans., vol. xi. (1852), pp. 18 and 19. 
+ Gladstone in Journ. Chem. Soc., vol. xxv. (1872), p. 1. 
' § C0. R. A. Wright, in Year Book of Pharm. (1874), p. 631, 
|| Bentley and Trimen, Med. Pl. tab. 297. 
{ Dict. Econ. Prod. India, vol. i., part iv., p. 5. 
** Gladstone, Pharm. Journ., ser. 3, vol. ii. (1872), p. 746. 
tt Straits Settl., Rep. Forest Dept. (1886), p. 15. 
+} Gildemeister and Hoffmann, Vol. Oils (1900), p. 299, 
