Gingergrass Oil

#### Gingergrass Oil. A twin brother of the palmarosa grass, the ginger- grass has very little importance in perfumery. The oil is distilled from the East Indian grass, **Cymbopogon**** ****Martini**, varietas **Sofia**, a physiological variety of the palmarosa grass (see monograph **Palmarosa Oil). **Cultivation of the two grasses interlace in the regions to the northeast of Bombay, in the states of Madras, Bengal, and Punjab. The grass is distilled when in full inflorescence, and usually the entire overground parts of the plant are cut for distillation. The stills are generally of a very primitive type. **Gingergrass**** ****Oil**** **is an oily liquid of yellow to dark yellow, amber-brown or almost brown color. It has a peculiar fatty-sweet, oily odor, leaving a slightly woody and rosy dryout note. The grassy notes, and particularly the rather fresh-spicy top- notes are entirely different from those found in palmarosa oil. This peculiar odor is sometimes referred to as an "ensilage"-odor. The main constituent of gingergrass oil, **Geraniol, **is not even perceptible until the oil dries out on a perfume blotter. The odor of geraniol is masked in this oil by the grassy and rather unpleasantly smelling trace components, one of which, however, is quite interesting: Perila Alcohol, also known as dihydro cuminyl alcohol. This alcohol possesses an extremely diffusive and strong, oily-grassy, fatty-herbaceous odor. It is present in a number of other essential oils (see monograph on **Perilla Oil**). For the effect of this alcohol, **Gingergrass Oil**** **finds some use in the construction of certain artificial essential oils, e. g. bergamot oil, jasmin absolute, cumin oil, "tea"-notes, etc. The content of **Perilla Alcohol **in gingergrass oil is, however, not high enough to encourage a production (by isolation) of this interesting perfume intermediate from the oil. **Gingergrass Oil **once was a popular perfumery raw material for rose compounds, particularly for soap perfumes, etc. Frequent and crude adulteration, often at the place of production, ruined the good reputation of this oil. The annual production has now dropped far below 50 metric tons, and the oil is mainly absorbed by the huge Indian market in soaps and detergents. **Gingergrass**** ****Oil**** **is hardly a regular item on the European and American market reports, and it may slowly disappear from the perfumery field except in its country of origin.