Introduction
Cymbopogon citrates staff is popularly known as citronella grass or lemongrass. This species
belongs to the Gramineae family, which comprises approximately 500 genus and 8,000 herb
species [1]. Lemon grass is a tufted perennial grass growing to a height of 1 meter with numerous
stiff leafy stems arising from short rhizomatous roots. It has an economic lifespan for about 5
years [2]. The leaf-blade is linear, tapered at both ends and can grow to a length of 50 cm and
width of 1.5 cm. The leaf-sheath is tubular in shape and acts as a pseudostem. Leaves are long,
glaucous, green, linear tapering upwards and along the margins. This plant produces flowers at
matured stages of growth. Conversely, flowering has never been observed under cultivation due
to rapid harvesting time. The inflorescence is a long spike about 1 meter in length. Flowers
borne on decompound spatheate; panicles 30 to over 60 cm long. The rhizome produces new
suckers that extend vertically as tillers to form dense clumps [3, 4].