The WALA Plant Library
Lemon Grass

Synonyms for Lemon Grass: West Indian lemon grass
Scientific Name: Cymbopogon citratus L.
Family: Poaceae (grass family)

Description:

Just thinking of lemon grass conjures up exotic images suffused with the fragrances of Thai cuisine. This perennial plant, which belongs to the grass family, is at home in tropical climates. It has smooth, bluish-green leaves consisting of a short, closed sheath at the base and a long, open blade which can grow to a length of up to 150 centimetres and droops gracefully at the tip. The sharp blades grow in clumps up to 120 centimetres across and when crushed give off a lemony aroma. Each new leaf grows within the sheath of the youngest leaf. This gives rise to a ring of leaves, thickened at the base, the leaves encased within each other onion-fashion and with the oldest leaves on the outside. Lemon grass produces its ear-like inflorescence only rarely. Its usual means of spreading is by runners.
When we talk about grass we usually think of the grass growing on a meadow or a garden lawn, for example. But it is worth taking a closer look at the grass family. After all, besides lemon grass it includes such important crops as wheat, rye, barley, oats, millet, maize, rice, sugar cane and bamboo. The hollow stems of grass are called culms. Its leaves and flowers branch out from these stems at thickened, solid growth points, the nodes. The very simple, wind-pollinated inflorescences of the grasses are known as spikelets and these are enclosed in bracts known as glumes. The inflorescences are arranged in varying ways: as ears (e.g. wheat, maize), spikes (e.g. rye, barley), panicles (e.g. oats, rice) or racemes, i.e. unbranched spikelet stalks on an elongated axis.