ABSTRACT
Aromatic grasses are one of the chief sources of essential oils. The genus Cymbopogon comprises a large number of species, out of which lemongrass, citronella, palmarosa, and few others produce oil of commercial importance (Gupta 1969; Gupta and Deniel 1982; Gupta and Jain 1978; Gupta et al. 1975). The chemical compounds present in the essential oils of Cymbopogon do not reflect the actual olfactory or other properties of the species (Gildemeister and Hoffmann 1956). There are instances when distinct species such as lemongrass oils from C. pendulus, C. citratus, and C. flexuosus (Anonymous 1958) produce oil of almost identical chemical composition. “Chemical characters are like other characters; they work when they work and they don’t work when they don’t work. Like all taxonomic characters they attain their value through correlation with other characters,” has been rightly quoted by Cronquits (1980). However, most of the Cymbopogon species found all around the world produce essential oils that differ widely in their physical properties and chemical constituents. The varieties motia and sofia of C. martinii are good examples of such variable characters.
