Botany
Tufted and perennial grass. Leaves grow to a length of up to 1 meter, about 1-1.5 cm wide, scabrous, flate, long-acuminate, and smooth. Panicles0 are 30-80 cm long, with noding branches and branchlets. Spikelets are linear-lanceolate and pointed, about 6 mm long.

Distribution
Cultivated commercially for its fragrant leaves.

Constituents
- Distillation yields lemon-grass oil, verbena and Indian Molissa oil.
- Plant contains small amounts of methyl heptenone and terpenes (limonene and dipentene).
- Contains citral, an aldehyde found in lemon peel oil and other natural essential oils.
- Main constituents of essential oil are citral (aldehydes geranial and neral) and terpenes (myrcrene, monoterpene and geranial - terpenic alcohol).
- Study of essential oil yields hydrocarbon terpenes, alcohols, ketones, esters and aldehydes.
- Leaves and roots have yielded alkaloids, saponin, a-sitosterol, terpends, alcohol, ketone, flavonoids, chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, p-coumaric acid and sugars.

Properties
The oils are reddish-yellow with an intense odor and taste of lemons.
Carminative, tonic, stimulant, diuretic, purgative, sudorific.
Leaves considered antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and sedative.

Parts utilized
Leaves

Uses
Folkloric
· Diarrhea: Boil 10 leaves in 2 glasses of water for 10 minutes; add a tablespoon of sugar and one small piece of crushed ginger.
· For adults: 1 cup, 3 times daily and after each loose bowel movement.
· Children: (Babies) 1 tablespoon 3 times daily and after each loose bowel movement; 2-6 years, 1/4 cup 3 times daily and after each loose bowel movement; 7-12 years, 1/2 cup three times daily and after each loose bowel movement.
· Suob: One of the 10 herbal ingredients in the decoction/bath in the post-partum ritual of suob. (See: Suob)
· Hot decoction of roots for toothaches. Roots also used as a diuretic.
· A stomachic for children.
· The oil, mixed with equal amounts of coconut oil, is used as a liniment for back pains, rheumatic complains, neuralgia, sprains and other painful afflictions.
· Decoction of leaves used as stomachic, diuretic, and refrigerant.
· In various traditional systems, leaf infusions used as antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and sedative.
· In Cuban folk medicine, used to lower blood pressure and as anti-inflammatory.
· In Brazil, used as sedative, for gastrointestinal maladies, and as febrifuge.
· In Malaya, used as a potion after childbirth.
· In Indonesia, used as digestive, diuretic, sudorific and emmenagogue.
· In India, used for gastrointestinal problems.
· In China, used as ansiolitic.
· In Nigeria, used as antipyretic, stimulant and antispasmodic.
· In Trinidad and Tobago, used for diabetes.
· In various folk medicinal use: oil used for cough, cold, hemoptysis, rheumatism, back pain, bladder problems
Culinary
· Culinary: Commonly used as a stuffing ingredient in pig spit-roasting to improve the flavor and decrease the grease-taste.
· Also used to flavor wines, sauces and spices.
· The roots have a ginger-like flavor and used as a condiment and adding fragrance to gogo hair-washes.
Others
• Essential Oil: Volatile oil, called Lemon grass oil, consists mainly of citral and used in perfumery, soap, cosmetics, pharmaceutical, insecticide and food industries.
• In India, cultivated around houses to repel snakes.
• Scavon Vet Spray: Andropogon citratus is one of the ingredients in a spray used for parasitic mite, Demodex bovis, that causes demodectic mange in cattle.
Recent uses and preparations:
Stomach discomfort, toothache, sprain, vomiting and ringworm
Preparation :
Liniment: Boil equal amounts of chopped leaves and roots with freshly made coconut oil. Also use as insect repellant.
Infusion: Mix four ounces of the grass to one pint of boiling water.
To keep away mosquitos, plant it around your house or place crushed leaves on your window sills.

Studies
• Antibacterial / Antifungal: (1) Studies have shown antibacterial activity, comparable to penicillin. (2) Various studies has shown activity against C albicans, C pseudotropicalis, Mycrosporum gypseum and A niger.
• Neurobehavioral Effects: (1) Study of myrcene in rats suggests anxiolytic activity. (2) Study of essentail oil produced marked CNS depression in mice, similar to chlorpromazine effect. Also, it increased sleepness time, similar to a thiopental effect.
• Antinociceptive / Analgesic: Myrcene extract from the essential oil has been shown to have an antinociceptive effect.
• Antitumoral: (1) Study showed a-myrcene possess antimutagenic activity in mammary cells. (2) Plant compounds, a-limonene and geraniol showed inhibition of liver and intestinal mucous membrane cancer in mice. (3) Study in Thailand showed inhibition of colorectal neoplasia in mice. (4) Study showed inhibitory effects on early phase hepatocarcinogenesis in rats after initiation with diethylnitrosamine.
• Insect repellent / Insecticidal: Studies of plant oil and powder have shown insect repellent and insecticidal activity. Essential oil has shown activity against Anopheline mosquitos, A culicifacies and A quinquefasciatus and certaindevelopmental phase inhibition of A aegypti.
• Mosquito repellent: Study on the mosquito repellency properties of volatile oils derived from lemongrass (C citratus), citronella grass (cymbopobon nadus) and May chang (Litsea cubeba) against Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefascitus showed no significant difference on repellency.


Availability
Wild-crafted.
Cultivated for culinary use.