UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
BULLETIN No. 442 
Contribution from the Bureau of Plant Industry 
J&$^5L WM. A. TAYLOR, Chief 
Washington, D. C. 
PROFESSIONAL PAPER 
January 25, 1917 
POSSIBILITY OF THE COMMERCIAL PRODUCTION 
OF LEMON-GRASS OIL IN THE UNITED STATES. 
By S. C. Hood, 
Scientific Assistant, Drug-Plant and Poisonous-Plant Investigations. 
CONTENTS. 
Page. 
Introduction 1 
Soil and climatic requirements of lemon 
grass 2 
Propagation 3 
Fertilizers and cultivation 3 
Harvesting 4 
Distillation 6 
Page. 
Varieties 7 
Factors affecting the yield of lemon-grass oil . 8 
Factors affecting the citral content of lemon- 
grass oil 9 
Solubility of lemon-grass oil in alcohol 10 
Commercial possibilities , 11 
INTRODUCTION. 
Lemon-grass oil is the volatile oil distilled from the plant known 
botanicalfy as Cymbopogon citratus DC. and commonly called lemon 
grass (fig. 1). It is lemon yellow to brownish in color, with a strong- 
odor resembling that of the lemon verbena, and for many years 
has occupied a prominent place in the perfume industry. The value 
of this oil depends almost entirely upon its content of citral, which 
is used in the manufacture of ionone, or artificial violet. Consid- 
erable use is also found for the oil in the soap industry. 
The principal regions where lemon-grass oil is produced are the 
Travancore Province and Madras Presidency of India and the island 
of Ceylon. Small quantities are regularly produced in other parts 
of the East Indies, and from time to time in many other parts of 
the world. 
Exact figures are not available regarding the consumption of 
lemon-grass oil in the United States, but estimates place it at about 
100,000 pounds annually. 
For the past eight years the Bureau of Plant Industry has been 
conducting experiments in the growing of lemon grass in central 
64824°— Bull. 442—17 
