Motia grass

The " Motia grass yields the important commercial oil, palmarosa oil, whilst the " Sofia grass yields the less valuable and quite different ginger-grQiSB oil. 

Ginger grass or Sofia grass oil differs in characters entirely from palmarosa or Motia grass oil. It has the following characters —... 

Palmarosa Oil occurs as a light yellow to yellow oil that is often hazy and brown with a rosy, floral, geranium odor. It is the volatile oil obtained by steam distillation from the partially dried grass Cymbopogon martini Stapf. var. motia (Fam. Gramineae). It is soluble in most fixed oils and in propylene glycol. It is soluble, usually with opalescence or turbidity, in mineral oil. It is practically insoluble in glycerin. 

PROP From steam distillation of the grass Cymbopogon Martini Stapf. Var. Motia, mainly G rW(FCTXAV 12,807,74). Yellow oUy liquid. D 0.879-0.892, refr index 1.473 20°. Sol in fixed oils, propylene glycol, mineral oil insol in glycerin. 

A distinction is made between two varieties of the grass Sofia and motia, but it is for the present undecided whether they are botanical varieties, or only different conditions of maturity of the same species. 

These oils are distilled in India from the grass Gymbopogon Martini (Andropogon Schoenanthus Linn.). There are two forms of this grass, known in India as " Motia and Sofia, but their botanical differences are not yet established. 

---