Lemon grass (Cymbopogon citratus)

Serai or lemon grass (Cymbopogon citratus) is a plant species in Poaceae, a shrub that has large fibrous roots and short rhizomes, pseudo stems that are soft and break easily even though they are stiff, hollow, rooted, clustered and often used as spices and essential oils.

C. citratus has a pseudo stem, 60-200 cm tall, yellowish white as a tuber midrib, has short hair and grows straight above the ground. The stem produces shoots where the root fibers have stolons that spread horizontally below the surface of the soil.

Stems frond and dull greenish white. Single leaf ribbon-shaped, not stemmed, length 50-100 cm, width 2 cm, bright green, pointed tip, bone in the middle of the linear and the rough surface of the upper and lower surface smooth hair.

Squeezed leaves emit a fragrant aroma that is almost like the scent of orange. Flowers contain ears and have no crown. The stems are used as spices to scent food and are processed into essential oils to repel mosquitoes and other insects.

Essential oils from lemon grass are citral, citronellol, beta-pinen, kamfen, sabinen, mirsen, p-felandren, psimen, limonene, cis-osimen, terpinol, citronellal, borneol, terpinen-4-ol, alpha-terpineol, geraniol, farnesol, methyl heptenone, n-desialdehyde, dipentene, methyl heptenone, bornilasetate, geranilformate, terpinyl acetate, sitronelil acetate, geranil acetate and beta-karyophilene oxide.

Citronellal, citronellol and geraniol determine the intensity of fragrant aromas, the value and price of oil. The phytochemical content of lemongrass is tannins, flavonoids, phenols and carbohydrates. The active component has anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, antibacterial, deodorant, expectorant, insecticide and sedative abilities.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Liliopsida
Order: Poales
Family: Poaceae
Subfamily: Panicoideae
Tribe: Andropogoneae
Genus: Cymbopogon
Species: Cymbopogon citratus

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