November 2, I ?9T-] THE TROPICAL AQRSCULTURIST, 34S 
GEASS OILS AND THEIE VARIETIES. 
Summarised by J. Ch. Saweb, f.l.h. 
Of the genus of grasses belonging to the tribe A ndro- 
2>ogoiHC about twent3'-five species are met with in India; 
of these, four or five are of commercial interest as 
yielding the oils known as " grass oils." 
The greatest confusion has existed in the identi- 
fication of the plants yielding the essiential oils from 
this genus, and much uncertainty yet appears to exist 
in Europe in tlie assignment of each oil to its proper 
botanical source — that is to say, in the identification 
of nearly-related plants which afford distinct oils 
known commercially under various names in London, 
Paris, and the Bast. The trade-names in London of 
tlie four principal oils being known in Egypt, in 
Turkey, and in India under such a great variety of 
names, and the plants they are derived from being 
known in the various provinces of India under siich 
a quantity of local dialaiscts, it is not surprising that 
errors creep into the literature of a subject so dif- 
ficult as that of the identification of the plants which 
yield the fonr oils knowir on the London market as 
"citronella," "lemon-grass," "ginger-grass," and "ve- 
tiver." Had I not personally known one of the largest 
growers and distillers at Singapore, who was as well 
versed in tlie Malay and Indifai dialects as he was in 
the cultivation of the plants, I might have been led 
by text-books to believe in the existence of a great 
number of plants yieldingvarious oils under many names. 
The Buro[!ean and vernacular names are very nu- 
merous, but the oils are four (unless rectified or adul- 
terated oils be counted), and the plants yielding tbem 
are four (unless a sub-genus, Cy mbopoi/on, ov vsjvietiea 
somewhat modified by cultivation, be counted). 
Tliere are writers v.'ho refer back to Dioscorides — 
even to Jeremiah — but those Ancients mixed up 
many plants under one poetical name, and led us 
Moderns into much confusion and dispute (instance, 
"Spikenard"). Their writings, in language not over 
rich in botanical terms, are misty and abrupt in ex- 
pressions, and they have been mauled in translation 
and re-translation. To Watt's "Dictionary of the Eco- 
nomic Plants of India," published in Calcutta 1889 
— a very valuable work philologically, botanically, and 
commercially — I am principally indebted for the 
vernacular names given in this summary. I only 
quote a few, as a complet^i list would be too lengthy. 
Tliere certainly is great difficulty of expressing 
by any combination of the Koman characters or by 
accentuation the guttural pronunciation, peculiar 
aspiration, &c., of Arabic, or of the languages and 
dialects of the East ; possibly they might be more 
easily rendered in German. 
A museum-specimen of essential oil should be 
distilled by the exhibitor himself, as all Oriental 
oils are adulterated ; it should be accompanied by a . 
dried specimen of the plant taken when in flower, 
a sample of the root, and a drawing of the living 
plant, also a description of the aspect of the place 
where found, and its exact local name writ! en in 
Oriental characters — then, in London, we know it. 
However, to summarise on the evidence at present 
available, the commercial oils derived from tlie five 
plants arc as follows: — 
1. Oil. 01'' GiTKONELLA. — Tlili is the Andiopoijon nar- 
(hh! of Linmeus, and is figured inBentley and Triiuens's 
" Medicinal Plants," tab 297. Synonyms: A. flexuosus 
and J. Nees ; yl. i/(iy/i?(i, Thwaites ("Bnoy. 
Coylon Phuits," 361); Ci/iuhnpuf/oit nardus, Linn. (Phar- 
macdiKvia of India). In lliinincrs "Report of the 
l^i'oihicts Exhibited at the 18G2 Exhibion," he wrongly 
aaMi^;us citronella to A. t(V'»'«.s; and he is wrong 
in Ills names of three out of four of the grasses. 
This grass ia very common in tho plains of the 
Punjal) and North-West Provinces. It is extensively 
cultivated in Coylon and at Singapore for tho manu- 
facture of tho oil from its leaves, and it is abundant 
at Travancovc. As cultivated in Ceylon on Winter's 
estate near Jalli,* it often attains a height of 6 or 
8 foot. Tho oil from this estate is considered as fine 
as, or finer tlian, that from Singapore. f . 
~«"'Gallcl— Ed. T. A. 
t In tho London market "Winter's" oils rank in 
value somewhat below "Fisher's" Singapore oils. — 
En. r. (OVA 
44 
In Coylon the citronella grass is raised from seed 
and planted like guinea-grass. It yields two or throe 
crops a year. (a) It is distiughished from the other spe- 
cies by its peculiar reddish tint, short spikes, and 
narrow leaves. The pure oil is thin, almost colour- 
less, or of a jsale greenish-yellow, and strongly aro- 
matic. It is to this oil that the well-known odour of 
"honey-soap" is due. Very interesting details of re- 
cent researches in the chemistry of citronella are 
detailed by Mr. Dodge, (//) mention being also made of 
Professor Pluoldger's discovery of the peculiar pro- 
perty possessed by this oil, and that oiA. cUiatus,oi 
solidifying, with evolution of heat, when shaken for 
ten minutes with a saturated solution of sodium 
bisulphite. It seems probable that the essential oil 
from a given plant may not only vary in density and 
boiling-point according to the age of the oil, but 
according to the age of the plant, the season when 
gathered, and the soil in which it was grown. 
It is well known to the trade that in the Bast 
citronella is largely adulterated with kerosene, large 
quantities of wliich are imported in Ceylon, in great 
excess of the requirements for illuminating purposes. 
Samples have been found to contain 18 per cent, of 
this adulterant. Many common fixed oils are also 
used. 
2. Oil of Lemon-gkass. — Tiiis is derived from the 
A. eifmtufs of De Candolle. Syn., A. schonianthtts, 
V\^allioh, Plant. As. Par. III., t'lb. 280. 
The vernacular names, " Gandha-bena " (Bengal) 
and " Malutrinukung-bhustrinung " (Sanskrit), are, by 
Eoxburgh,(r) given to a plant he describes as A. schm- 
naiithm, Linn. This description may be referable to 
A. citrat.us, De C., but it seems to agree equally 
well with the A. Laidger of Desfontaines. 
It is a large, coarse, glauceoxis grass found under 
cultivation in various islands of the Eastern Archi- 
pelago, and in gardens over an extensive tract of 
country in India. It very rarely flowers, but Dr. 
Bymock, of Bombay, states that he has seen it in flower 
more than once. It is largely cultivated in Ceylon 
and Singapore for the odoriferous oil distilled from 
the leaves, which is called lemon-grass, verbena oil, 
or Indian melissa oil. 
The oil is employed in Europe as an ingredient 
in perfumes, very considerable quantities being used 
in the manufacture of eau de Cologne. It is also used 
for adulterating the so-called "true verbena oil" ob- 
tained from the Lipjiia citriodora in Spain. This 
plant is sometimes called Aloi/sia citiiodora, and it 
is certainly not a verbena plant at all. Oil of le- 
mon-grass is said to be called Sireli in Java, but that 
word may apply to the oil of Tetranthera citrata, a 
Javanese plant of similar odour. This "verbeua" 
odour is also developed in Eucahiptns staii/enana. 
Eucalyptus citriodom, and BacWiousia citriodoisi, Aus- 
tralian plants, from which oils are distilled. 
3. Vetivek or Cus-cus. — This is the root of tlw 
Androjiogon inuncatun, Retz. Syn. A squarrosun, Linn.; 
Vetiveria odorata, Virey ; Aimtherum miincataia, Retz ; 
Raphis muricatiis , Nees ; Phalaris zizanoides. Linn. 
There is a verse in the Sanskrit language composed 
of nine words, arranged in two lines, (rf) purporting 
to be the nine names under which the plant is known ; 
doubtless they were f oetical names, as they are not 
to be found in the extensive list of local names recently 
enumerated by Watt3.(p) 
The roots are universally known in Bengal as 
"Chas" or "Khas-Khas," and in Bombay a3"I£hasa- 
Khasa." It is a perennial, tufted grass, very 
conspicuous, tall and erect. It is very common in 
every part of the coast of Coromandel, Mysore, 
also iu Bengal and Burma, where it meets 
with a low, moist, rich soil, especially on the banks 
of water-courses. It covers large tracts of waste land 
in Cuttack. It inhabits tlie plains of the Punjab and 
North- West Provinces, and ascends into Kumaon. 1,000 
or 2,000 feet in altitude. (/) It is also found in Mauri- 
a Tropical Ai/iictdturint, iii. p. 5S. 
I) Amaricaii uournal of Cheniiatry, XI., 1839, No. 7, p. 150. 
c jRox. Flor. Iiul. Scramporc Ji'dii., i. p. 278. 
d Asiatic Iie/icarciic.t, iv. p. 306. 
<■ IHct. Economic I'rodiict.-: of India. Calcutta: 1889. 
/' Duthio's Grassc<s of the ^"orth-WcDt rioviiica. 1883. 
