| bot | Andropogon citratum (Dec) |
| pharm | Herba Andropogonis |
| Arabic | حشيشة الليمون |
| حَشِيشَة اللَيْمُون | |
| Hashisha al-limun | |
| Burmese | Zabalin, Sabalin |
| Chinese (Cantonese) | 草薑 [chóu gèung], 風茅 [fùng màauh], 檸檬草 [nìhng mùng chóu], 檸檬香茅 [nìhng mùng hèung màauh], 香巴茅 [hèung bā màauh], 香茅屬 [hèung màauh sūk] |
| Chou geung, Fung maauh, Nihng mung chou, Nihng mung heung maauh, Heung ba maauh, Heung maauh suk | |
| Chinese (Mandarin) | 草薑 [chǎo jiāng], 風茅 [fēng maó], 檸檬草 [níng méng chǎo], 檸檬香茅 [níng méng xiāng maó], 香巴茅 [xiāng bā maó], 香茅屬 [xiāng máo shǔ], 柠檬香茅 [níng méng chǎo] |
| Chao jiang, Feng mao, Ning meng chao, Ning meng xiang mao, Xiang mao cao, Xiang ba mao, Xiang mao shu, Cang-mao | |
| Croatian | Vlaska |
| Czech | Citrónová tráva |
| Danish | Citrongræs |
| Dutch | Citroengras, Sereh, Kamelhewe |
| English | Lemon grass, Citronella, Squinant |
| Esperanto | Citronelo |
| Estonian | Harilik sidrunhein |
| Fante | Ti-ahaban |
| Finnish | Sitruunaruoho |
| French | Verveine des Indes |
| Ga-Dangme | Ti-ba |
| Galician | Herba de Limón |
| German | Zitronengras, Citronella, Lemongras |
| Greek | Λεμονόχορτο, Κιτρονέλλα (Cymbopogon nardus) |
| Lemonochorto; Kitronella (Cymbopogon nardus) | |
| Hebrew | לימון גראס, לימונית ריחנית, עשב לימון |
| Essef limon, Limon gras, Limonit rehanit | |
| Hindi | Sera, Verveine |
| Hmong | Tawj dub |
| Hungarian | Citromfű, Citronella |
| Icelandic | Sítrónugras |
| Indonesian | Sereh |
| Italian | Cimbopogone |
| Japanese | レモングラス, レモンソウ |
| Remonso, Remonguraso | |
| Kannada | ಮಜ್ಜಿಗೆ ಹುಲ್ಲು |
| Majjige hullu | |
| Korean | 레몬그라스 |
| Remon-gurasu | |
| Laotian | Si khai, Sing khai |
| Khmer | Bai mak nao, Slek krey sabou, Kuel skey |
| Lithuanian | Tikroji citrinžolė; Lanksčioji (Cymbopogon flexuosus) |
| Malay | Serai, Serai dapur |
| Polish | Palczatka cytrynowa; Palczatka pogięta (Cymbopogon flexuosus) |
| Portuguese | Capim-santo, Erva-cidreira, Erva-príncipe, Capim-cidrão |
| Romanian | Iarbă de limon |
| Russian | Лимонное сорго, Лимонная трава |
| Limonnoe sorgo, Limmonaya trava | |
| Singhalese | Sera |
| Slovak | Vôňovec, Citrónová tráva |
| Slovenian | Limonska trava |
| Spanish | Zacate de limón, Te de limón, Caña de Limón, Citronella, Hierba de Limón |
| Swedish | Citrongräs |
| Tagalog | Tanglad, Salai |
| Tamil | கர்ப்பூரப்புல், போதைப்புல் |
| Karppurappul, Potaippul | |
| Telugu | కామంచి కసు |
| Kamanchi kasu | |
| Thai | จะไคร, ตะไคร้หอม, ตะไคร้ |
| Cha Khrai, Soet kroei, Takrai hom, Ta krai | |
| Turkish | Limon otu |
| Vietnamese | Sả chanh, Xả |
| Sa chanh, Xa |
Stalks and leaves.
Poaceae (grass family).
Fresh and lemon-like, with a hint of rose fragrance. See also lemon myrtle on lemon fragrance.
The essential oil of lemon grass (0.2 to 0.5%, “West Indian lemon
grass oil”) consists mainly of citral. Citral is a mixture of two
stereoisomeric monterpene aldehydes; in lemon grass oil, the trans
isomer geranial (40 to 62%) dominates over the cis isomer neral (25 to
38%). Further terpenoids in lemon grass oil are nerol, limonene, linalool and
β-caryphyllene. The content of myrcene is low, but still enough to make the
oil susceptible to oxidative polymerization.
|
| Lemon grass |
East Indian lemon grass oil is distilled from a related species, C. flexuosus. It consists of alcohols (20 to 30% cotronellol, geranoil) and aldehydes (15% geranial, 10% neral, 5% citronellal). This species is dominantly used in the perfume industry as it contains less myrcene and, therefore, has a longer shelf life.
Two further species have considerable relevance for the perfume industry: The so-called palmarosa oil is distilled from Cymbopogon martini (Roxb.) J.F. Watson var. martini (native to India, cultivated also in Jawa) and contains mainly geraniol (75%) and geranyl acetate (12%). Also worth mentioning is citronella grass (Cymbopogon winterianus Jowitt) which also stems from India, but is today grown throughout the tropics; its main constituents are citronellal (35%), geraniol (25%) and citronellol (10%) plus minor amounts of geranyl acetate (5%).
The genus has about 55 species, most of which are native to South Asia, Southeast Asia and Australia. The so-called East-Indian lemon grass (Cymbopogon flexuosus [Nees ex Steudel] J.F. Watson) is native to India, Sri Lanka, Burma and Thailand; for the related West-Indian lemon grass (C. citratus [DC] Stapf), a Malesian origin is generally assumed. You might note that the epitheta “East” and “West” are here applied quite randomly. Both species are today cultivated throughout tropical Asia.
Although the two species can almost be used interchangably, C.
citratus is more relavant for cooking. In India is is
cultivated als a medical herb and for perfumes, but not used as a spice; in
the rest of tropical Asia (Sri Lanka and even more South East Asia), it is an
important culinary herb and spice.
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| Lemon grass plant |
The botanical genus name Cymbopogon is derived from Greek kymbe [κύμβη] “boat” and pogon [πώγων] “beard”; it refers to the boat-shaped spathes and the many-awned inflorescences which remind to a beard.
The species name citratus obviously relates to the prominent lemon fragrance of that plant. Similarly, most European names of lemon grass are either adapted from local names of lemon (citronella) or are compounds meaning “lemon herb” (Finnish sitruunaruoho, Portuguese erva-cidreira, Turkish limon otu) or particularily often “lemon-grass” (Danish citrongræs, Lithuanian citrinžolė, Czech citrónová tráva, Estonian sidrunhein, Hungarian citromfű). Similar compounds are Russian limonnoe sorgo [лимонное сорго] “lemon-sorghum” and Spanish te de limón “lemon tea”. The various names of lemon are further explained under lemon and lime.
The English word grass and its Latin cognate gramen (from older grasmen) “(grass)-blade, stalk” cannot be explained easily. It is probable to connect it to an Indo-European root referring to plant growth (GHER, “project out, sprout, grow”); related English words are grow and green; in German, the basic meaning is preserved in Grat “ridge, crest” and Gräte “fish bone”. On the other hand, given the importance of grass as an animal fodder, it is hardly coincidential that a similar Indo-European root, GRAS-, means “devour, digest” .
The medieval English name squinant is a corruption of earlier schoenanth and derives from two Greek words, schoinos [σχοῖνος] “rush, grass” and anthos [ἄνθος] “flower”. Another name of that period is Dutch kamelhewe “camel's hay” which refers to the caravans that transported dried lemongrass on the back of camels from tropical Asia to Europe (spice route). Lemon grass was used for beer brewing and preparation of spiced wines.