The lemon grass, Cymbopogon citratus (DC) Stapf, is an important species of Poaceae family commonly used in the
folk medicine in many countries. The aim of this study was to investigate the cytotoxic and genotoxic effects of aqueous
extracts from C. citratus leaves on Lactuca sativa (lettuce) root tip meristem cells by cytogenetic studies that have never
been done before for lemon grass extracts. For this, lettuce seeds were treated for 72h with different concentrations
of lemon grass aqueous extracts (5; 10; 20 and 30 mg/mL). The percentage of germination, root development and
cellular behavior were analyzed, and the results showed that the highest concentration of aqueous extracts reduced the
mitotic index, the seed germination and the root development of lettuce. The extracts have also induced chromosome
aberrations and cellular death in the roots cells of L. sativa.