INDEX
No. Contents Page number
1 Plant profile
2 Introduction/history of the plant
3 Phytochemical studies of the plant
4 Ethnomedical survey of the plant
5 Pharmacological review of the plant
6 Herbal formulation/products available in the market
7 References
Plant Profile
Common name : Lemon grass
Botanical source : Cymbopogon citrates
Family name : Poaceae
Vernacular name : Malay – serai wangi Tamil – Karppurappul Chinese – xiāng máo căo
Macroscopical characters : Colour – having green leaves and white-greenish stem
: Odour – strong, sharp, fresh, lemon scented
: Shape – tall, long with sharp-edge leaf
: Size – may reached height of 1m
Distribution of plant : Mostly distributed in the South East Asia such as in Malaysia and…show more content… This type of plant belongs to Poaceae family and it is commonly known as lemon grass or serai wangi. Cymbopogon citrates can be described as a plant that grown up as shrub-like. It has very long; thin and tall leaves with its sharp-edged that grow from the stem with short roots and its height can reach up to 1m or more. This plant is categorized as an easy-grow plant as it can be planted anywhere with a full sun and moderate rainfall, soil, warm and humid climate.
Cymbopogon citrates have been used as multiuse traditional medicine from long before. According to the old folks, some people use it as remedy in skin treatment for scabies, lice and dandruff treatment and many more. There are also in other countries where the people use this plant to make as herbal tea to relieve some difficulties such as fever and colds. Rather than that, this plant has many more advantages as aromatherapy and may also be used as fragrance in cosmetic field. As time goes on, many researches have been done to identify which part of the plant and what constituent that gave the beneficial…show more content… Due to its numerous effects, the need upon the requirement of essential oils is getting increased. Unlike the olden days where there is no accurate review about the essential oils and lack of knowledge about it. However as time pass through, many methods have been done to extract and isolate the citral content out of the plant. Based on the research done by Nur (2014), the extraction methods used including hydrodistillation, gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS), microwave-assisted hydrodistillation (MAHD), Soxhlet extraction method, steam and water distillation. Provided different methods, the expected outcome also will be affected. In other words, some common methods such as simple distillation might cause several drawbacks like thermal degradation which lastly manage to cause the amount of extracts to be reduced. As time passes, an advance method such as microwave-assisted hydrodistillation (MAHD) has been employed in terms of to reduce the cost, time and enhance therapeutical properties also with increase the product of extract in