- 76 - 



II. d 15 o 0,8924; a D — o°49'; aldehyde content 87°/ (bisulphite 

 method) or 82 °/ (sulphite method). 



Neither oil was soluble in 70 per cent, alcohol, but both dissolved 

 in 0,9 vol. 80 per cent alcohol, although turbidity ensued when more 

 alcohol was added. Their behaviour with 90 per cent., and even with 

 absolute alcohol was similar, the solutions, clear at first, becoming 

 strongly opalescent when diluted. 



It is worthy of note that these two oils are of East Indian origin. The 

 term "East Indian" oils, however, is usually applied to the easily 

 soluble distillates which are prepared on the Malabar coast. According 

 to Stapf 1 ), the difference exists in the parent plants, the easily-soluble 

 Malabar oils being the product of Cymbopogon flexuosus Stapf. and 

 the so-called "West Indian" oils, which' are sparingly soluble, of 

 C. citralus Stapf. 



According to Bacon 2 ), a variety of grass which, from the char- 

 acteristics of the lemongrass oil it produces, is regarded as Andropogon 

 citratus D. C, is cultivated to a small extent in the Philippines, al- 

 though it occurs everywhere throughout the Archipelago, both as a 

 garden-plant and in the wild state, and grows* in special profusion in 

 the highlands of the province of Benguet. In the Tagal language 

 this oil -grass is called by the name given to it in 1635 by the 

 Spanish Jesuit Juan Eusebius Niirnberg, who was the first to describe 

 it, viz: tanglat or, more accurately, tanglad. Other native names for 

 the plant are salai and bafyoco; its Spanish name is Paja de Meca. 

 At the present time the oil is not distilled commercially. Bacon points 

 out, quite justly, that under the present market-conditions the cultiv- 

 ation of lemongrass would not be profitable, notwithstanding the fact 

 that it grows quickly and produces a rich yield, and he only recom- 

 mends it as a temporary crop, to be grown until other plantations 

 produce sufficient returns. A grass 5 months old, distilled two days 

 after being cut, produced 0,2 °/ of an oil with the following properties: 

 d~ 0,894, «D30° +8,1°, n D30°i,4-857> citral-content 79%. The oil 

 held Schimmel's test, that is, it dissolved readily in 1 to 2 vols, and 

 in 10 vols, of 80 per cent, alcohol, (there seems to have been some 

 confusion with citronella oil). The same plants, when cut again 

 4 months later, produced 0,2 °/ oil with the following constants: 

 d^ 0,8841, «D30°+2,i°, n D30 o 1,4765. citral content 77°/o> holding 

 Schimmel's test. A grass seven months old from another plant- 

 ation, distilled immediately after being cut, produced 0,2 1 °/ oil, pos- 

 sessing the following constants: d^- 0,891, «d30 o + 7j76 o , d d30° 1,4812, 



x ) Comp. Report April 1907, 30. 



2 ) Philippine Journ. of sc. 4 (1909), A, ill. 



