| Description & extraction |
It is a wild growing, herbaceous green and straw-colored grass, with
long slender stems, terminal flowering tops and fragrant grassy leaves.
It is harvested before the flowers appear and the highest yield is
obtained when the grass is fully dried - about one week after it has been
cut. There are two varieties of grass from which the oil can be extracted
- motia and sofia. We find the sofia chemotype to be far more active and
pleasant smelling - and for this reason the oil sold by us is from this
chemotype. Palmarosa oil has a sweet floral, with a hint of rose smell
and is pale yellow in color with a nearly watery viscosity. Palmarosa oil
is extracted from Cymbopogon martini (also known as Cymbopogon
martinii var. martinii) of the Gramineae family and is also known as
East Indian and Turkish geranium, as well as Indian rosha and motia.
Palmarosa oil is extracted from the dried grass harvested before it
Flowers by steam distillation. The yield is 1 - 1.5 %. |
