Lemongrass Profile

Lemongrass is a densely clumped perennial herb of the Gramineae and Citronella genus. The stalk of Lemongrass is 2 meters high, strong, and the nodes are covered with white wax powder. The leaf sheath is hairless, does not roll outwards, and the inner surface is light green. The tongue is thick, with a long and pointed tip, smooth or rough edges. Pseudopanicles have multiple compound branches, scattered, slender branches, and drooping apex. The margin is sparsely pilose, and the tip is enlarged or cracked. The sessile spikelets are linear-lanceolate, the dorsal glumes are flat or concave into grooves, veinless, with narrow wings on the upper part and short cilia on the edges. The second lemma is narrow, flowering and fruiting in summer, and flowering of Lemongrass is rare.

Lemongrass morphological characteristics

Lemongrass is a perennial dense cluster type with aromatic herbs. The stalk is 2 meters high, strong, and the nodes are covered with white wax powder. The leaf sheath is hairless, does not roll outwards, and the inner surface is light green. The tongue if Lemongrass is thick, about 1 mm long. The leaves are 30-90 cm long, 5-15 mm wide, and the tip is long and pointed, smooth or rough. Pseudopanicles have multiple compound branches, about 50 cm long with slender branches and drooping tops. Racemes are not equal in length, with 3-4 or 5-6 nodes, about 1.5 cm long. The raceme rachis internodes and spikelets are 2.5-4 mm long, with sparsely pilose margins, and swollen or dentate tips. The sessile spikelet is linear-lanceolate, 5-6 mm long and 0.7 mm wide. The back of the first glume is flat or recessed into a groove, without veins, with narrow wings on the upper part and short cilia on the edges. The second lemma is narrow and narrow, about 3 mm long, with 2 microtooths at the apex, without awns or with awn tips about 0.2 mm long. The stalked spikelets are 4.5-5 mm long. In the summer of flowering and fruiting period, flowers are rare.

Lemongrass growth habit and growing environment and distribution

Lemongrass is mainly grown in tropical and subtropical regions, and it has strong adaptability. It likes warm and humid environment, not cold-tolerant, prefers sufficient sunlight, and has low requirements on the soil. Lemongrass can better adapt to prefer loose, fertile and well-drained sandy loam. Lemongrass likes areas with high temperature and sufficient moisture. In a certain country, lemongrass is mainly distributed in southern regions. Lemongrass is mostly clustered, so wild lemongrass usually appears in clusters. Lemongrass is widely cultivated in tropical areas, mainly in the West Indies, Eastern Africa and China. It is cultivated in Guangdong, Hainan and Taiwan in China. China is mainly distributed in Guangdong, Fujian, Guangxi, Yunnan and other provinces.

Lemongrass efficacy and role

The stems and leaves of Lemongrass can be used to extract lemon essential oil, which is used to make perfume, soap, and is edible. The tender stems and leaves are the raw materials for making curry spices. Medicinal use has the effect of dredging wind and collaterals.

Medicinal

Lemongrass has the functions of strengthening the stomach, diuresis, preventing anemia and moisturizing the skin. According to traditional Indian medicine, lemongrass is regarded as a medicinal plant for curing all kinds of diseases. It can be seen that lemongrass has many effects and functions. The smell is fragrant and has anti-bacterial and anti-viral effects. Lemongrass has been respected by doctors since ancient times. It can regulate oil secretion, which is good for oily skin and hair. It can be added to water to clean the skin and promote blood circulation. Lemongrass has antibacterial properties and can treat cholera, acute gastroenteritis and chronic diarrhea. It moisturizes the skin and helps women beautify their skin. It can relieve cold symptoms, and cure stomach pain, abdominal pain, headache, fever, relieve headache, fever, herpes, etc., diuretic and detoxify. Besides, Lemongrass also can eliminate edema and excess fat. Containing a lot of vitamin C, it is also a good product for beauty salons. Lemongrass can be good for regulating oil secretion, beneficial to oily skin and hair. It can be added to water to clean skin and promote blood circulation, which is beneficial to your body.

Edible

Thai cuisine has a refreshing and refreshing fragrance of Lemongrass, which is suitable for Thai cuisine and is commonly found in Thai cuisine. The smell is fragrant and has anti-bacterial and anti-viral effects. At present, lemongrass has been respected by doctors since ancient times. Drinking it on weekdays can effectively prevent diseases, enhance immunity, and achieve the effect of curing diseases and strengthening the body without diseases. Lemongrass is often used in Hainanese chicken rice, Thai Tom Yum Goong soup, etc.

Lemongrass cultivation

Choose a place for lemongrass

Lemongrass potted plants do not have strict soil requirements. Usually, the soil of Lemongrass can be cultivated, but alkaline soil and sandy soil are not suitable for cultivation. Fear of drought, it is not advisable to repeat cropping. The first crop of cereals, beans, and vegetables is better.

Land preparation

You’d better turn the ground 20 cm, and apply farmyard manure before turning. The row spacing of ridges is 40 cm to 50 cm, or flatbed. Since the seeds of lemongrass are small, the ground must be leveled and raked.

Planting lemongrass

Potted plants of lemongrass are divided into direct seeding and seedling transplanting, and the suitable sowing methods are continuous sowing or broadcasting. Spring sowing should be 6 to 8 days before the end of the final frost. In order to balance the market supply, one batch can be sown every 10 days to 15 days. For the winter to go on sale, the sowing time should be 80 days to 90 days before the first frost period. In order to produce whole seedlings at one time, the soil must be kept at a certain level of humidity when sowing, and the cover must be light and suppressed.

Harvest lemongrass

For oil production, it is best to cut lemongrass for the first time 3 to 4 months after planting, and then cut every 40 to 50 days after that. The harvest of Lemongrass can be carried out 3 to 4 times a year, and after three or four years. To transplant, the leaves for conditioning use the base of the leaf.

The impact of different lemongrass planting patterns

Chinese lemongrass, Australian lemongrass and Vietnamese lemongrass. As the planting time (August to October) increases, the height of lemongrass, total number of tillers, yield and absolute dry oil content of lemongrass have also increased. By November, the height of lemongrass, total number of tillers, yield and absolute dry oil content of lemongrass and the oil content remains almost unchanged. It shows that when the lemongrass grows to a certain extent, the growth will stagnate, that means, the ideal harvest time has been reached. Different planting patterns have a certain impact on the growth of lemongrass. From the perspective of the plant height, the total number of tillers and the yield of lemongrass, the double-row ridge is obviously better than the single-row ridge, and the slope and flat land are better. Due to the well-developed root system of lemongrass, ridged planting is more conducive to the growth of citronella and drainage is more convenient; double-row ridges are better than single-row ridges in the number of plants; sloping land planting is conducive to drainage, but the root system development space is limited; flatland planting unfavorable drainage in the rainy season restricts the growth of lemongrass to a certain extent. Chinese lemongrass and Vietnamese lemongrass have little difference in plant height, total number of tillers, yield and absolute dry oil yield, but there are certain differences in the main components of volatile oil. Australian lemongrass only has an advantage in plant height. Its total number of tillers, yields and absolute oil content are far less than Chinese lemongrass and Vietnamese lemongrass, but the citral content of its volatile oil is as high as 80%. The citral content of Chinese lemongrass is about 70%, and that of Vietnamese lemongrass is about 60%. Although there are certain differences in the absolute dry oil content of the same citronella variety under different planting modes, the difference is not big. The absolute dry oil content of different lemongrass varieties under the same planting mode is quite different. The absolute dry oil content is in the order of magnitude. Chinese lemongrass is similar to Vietnamese lemongrass, but significantly more than Australian lemongrass. Different lemongrass varieties have the best harvest time during the planting process. The best harvest period is 6 months after planting, and the best planting mode is double-row ridges. The absolute dry oil content of different lemongrass varieties under the same planting mode is quite different. The absolute dry oil content is in the order of magnitude. Chinese lemongrass is similar to Vietnamese lemongrass, but significantly more than Australian lemongrass. In terms of the selection of lemongrass varieties, if you want lemongrass with high yield and extremely dry oil content, you can choose Chinese lemongrass and Vietnamese lemongrass. The main components of Chinese lemongrass are myrcene, neral and geranial, while the main components of Vietnamese citronella are geranial, geraniol, neral and geranyl acetate. It’s recommended that the seed selection according to the needs. Australian lemongrass also has its own advantages. If you want to obtain a volatile oil with high citral content, you’d better choose Australian lemongrass.