Cymbopogon distans (Nees ex Steud.) W. Watson

Aromatic oils are extracted from this species for medicinal and industrial purposes.

Perennial, shortly rhizomatous with age; basal sheaths closely overlapping in tight bundles, not curling. Culms densely tufted, erect or ascending, tinged purple, 50–100 cm tall, nodes glabrous. Leaf sheaths glabrous; leaf blades narrowly linear to filiform, flexuous, 10–50 × 0.15–0.3 cm, glaucous, glabrous, margins scabrid; ligule 2–3 mm. Spathate compound panicle narrow, open, 15–30 cm, usually simple, rarely with second tier of branching, raceme pairs few; spatheoles gray-green, 2–3.5 cm; racemes 2–3.5 cm; rachis internodes and pedicels 2–3 mm, margins densely ciliate with white soft hairs up to 3 mm; pedicel of homogamous pair not swollen. Sessile spikelet linear-lanceolate, (6–)7–8 × 0.8–1.2 mm; lower glume flat or shallowly concave in lower part with 1–2 transverse wrinkles, sharply 2-keeled throughout, keels wingless or narrowly winged, wings 0.15–0.25 mm, 2–4-veined between keels in upper part, apex long acuminate, 2-toothed; upper lemma 2-lobed; awn 1.5–2 cm. Pedicelled spikelet 5–9 mm. Fl. and fr. Jun–Oct. 2n = 20, 40.

Perennial; culms erect, up to 90 cm high. Leaf blades narrowly linear to filiform, flat or folded, up to 50 cm long and 3 mm wide, pale to dark green; basal sheaths glabrous to minutely puberulous. False panicle simple, interrupted, 15-30 cm long; spatheoles narrowly elliptic, greyish-green, 2.5-3.5 (exceptionally up to 7) cm long. Racemes 25-35 mm long, lowermost pedicel not swollen; internodes and pedicels densely ciliate along the margins, glabrous or minutely puberulous on the back. Sessile spikelet narrowly lanceolate, 6-7.5(-8.5) mm long; lower glume shallowly concave in the lower part, flattish above and often trans¬versely wrinkled, narrowly winged on the keels, 2-toothed at the tip; upper lemma deeply bifid, with an awn 15-20 mm long. Chromosome number, 2n=20.

Himalaya, Ceylon.

S Gansu, Guizhou, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan [NW India, Nepal, Pakistan].

Distribution: Pakistan (Punjab, N.W.F.P. & Kashmir); Northwest and Central Himalayas to Yunan.

2300-2400 m

Fl. & Fr. Per.: August-October.

Mountain slopes, valleys, open grassy places; 2000–3500 m.

Andropogon distans Nees ex Steudel, Syn. Pl. Glumac. 1: 387. 1854; A. nardus Linnaeus var. distans (Nees ex Steudel) Hackel.