Vetiver
Chrysopogon zizanioides
Poaceae
Growth habit
Grass/Sedge
Native distribution
Tropical India
Biocultural value
Dried roots yield an essential oil that has a sweet, earthy, woody scent that is widely used in the perfume industry. It is also used to enhance the flavor of canned asparagus.
Location
Source of plant
WW Granger
Description
To 180cm or over. Stems robust, upright, simple, densly clumped. Leaves linear, to 90 x 1cm, rigid, margins scabrid; sheaths glabrous. Inflorescence lanceolate-oblong, to 45cm, condensed; racemes to 8cm, slender; spikelets to 0.5cm, awnless; lower glume tough, minutely spiny beneath.
USDA Hardiness Zone
10
Special characteristics
other ethnobotanical uses, tender perennial