GREENS, HERBS AND FOUGERES / green · floral · sweet
Gingergrass
Category
GREENS, HERBS AND FOUGERES
Subcategory
green · floral · sweet
Origin
Volatility
Heart Note
Botanical
Cymbopogon martinii var. sofia
Appearance
dark yellow clear oily liquid
Odor Strength
Medium
Producing Countries
India, Nepal
Pyramid
Heart
Rosy-sweet, faintly peppery grass. Gingergrass smells like a softer, sweeter relative of citronella -- floral geraniol over a warm, grassy base, with none of ginger's heat.
Rosy-sweet from high geraniol, but rougher and grassier than palmaros a. A woody-peppery bet a-caryophyllene undertone adds a wild, unpolished edge absent from clean rose geranium. Less clean than palmaros a, less clean than Pelargonium geranium, with a distinctly grassy-sweet-peppery character.
Gingergrass (Cymbopog on martini var. sofi a) is a grass closely related to palmaros a (C. martini var. moti a). Despite its name, it has no botanical connecti on to ginger (Zingiber officinale). The essential oil is steam-distilled from the aerial parts and is significantly cheaper than palmaros a, with a greener, less clean character.
The volatile profile is rich in geraniol (rosy-floral, 40-60%) and geranyl acetate (fruity-floral), similar to palmaros a but with higher proportions of bet a-caryophyllene (woody-peppery) and limonene (citrusy) that give it a rougher, grassier character. It reads less clean than palmaros a and less clean than rose geranium.
In perfumery, gingergrass is an economical source of natural geraniol and as a heart-note modifier in compositions needing a rosy-green impressi on without the cost of rose or palmaros a. It works in soaps, fresh-florals, and functional fragrances.
This note in Première Peau. Simili Mirage · Gravitas Capitale. Sample all seven extraits in the Discovery Set.
Gingergrass and palmarosa are varieties of the same species (Cymbopogon martini). The difference between var. sofia (gingergrass) and var. motia (palmarosa) is primarily in the geraniol content: palmarosa can reach 80-95% geraniol, while gingergrass typically stays at 40-60%, with higher proportions of secondary terpenes.
Extraction & Chemistry
Extraction method: Steam distillation of the aerial parts (leaves and stems) of Cymbopogon martini var. sofia. Yield approximately 0.5-1.0%. Oil is pale yellow with a sweet, rosy-grassy odour. Major production in India and Nepal.
Gingergrass oil is an economical geraniol source functioning as a rosy-green heart-note modifier. Its rougher, grassier character (beta-caryophyllene, limonene) distinguishes it from palmarosa. The oil works in soaps, fresh-floral, and functional fragrances where a rosy-geraniol impression is needed at lower cost. Not a substitute for fine rose or geranium in prestige compositions.
