Chrysopogon zizanioides
Chrysopogon zizanioides
Safety & Hazards
None known
Cultivation Details
Chrysopogon zizanioides is a plant of the tropics, where it is found at elevations up to 2,500 metres. It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 22 - 35°c, but can tolerate 12 - 45°c[1]. When dormant, the plant can survive temperatures down to about -15°c, but young growth can be severely damaged at 0°c[1]. It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range 500 - 2,500mm, but tolerates 200 - 5,000mm[1]. This species cannot tolerate hard frosts. In areas that experience much frost, it is better to divide up the plant is the autumn, potting up the divisions and over-wintering them in a greenhouse before planting them back outdoors in late spring[2]. Vetiveria grass is a fast-growing grass that is non-invasive, very deep rooting, insect and vermin proof. It is drought resistant, and also withstands inundation[3]. It prefers a moisture-retentive soil in full sun[4]. Succeeds in a very wide range of soils, tolerating occasional waterlogging once established[1]. Plants are very tolerant of saline soils[1]. Prefers a Ph in the range 4.5 - 8, tolerating 3 - 9.9[1]. A yield of 1 - 5 tonnes of dried roots per hectare can be harvested annually, at an oil content of 0.7 - 2.5%, this produces 40 - 100 kilos of essential oil[1].
Propagation
Seed - Division Cite as: Temperate Plants Database, Ken Fern. temperate.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <temperate.theferns.info/plant/Chrysopogon+zizanioides>
Pollinators
Wind
References
- [1]Ecocrop — http://ecocrop.fao.org/ecocrop/srv/en/home ↩︎Basic information on a wide range of useful plants, plus details of environmental needs where available.
- [2]A Weavers Garden — Buchanan. R. · McGraw-Hill Contemporary · 1987 · ISBN 0934026289 ↩︎Covers all aspects of growing your own clothes, from fibre plants to dyes.
- [3]Handbook of Energy Crops — Duke. J. · - · 1983 · https://hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/duke_energy/dukeindex.html · ISBN - ↩︎Published only on the Internet, excellent information on a wide range of both temperate and tropical plants.
- [4]The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. — Huxley. A. · MacMillan Press · 1992 · ISBN 0-333-47494-5 ↩︎Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.
- [5]Plant Resources of Southeast Asia — http://proseanet.org/ ↩︎Lots of information on the uses of the plants of SE Asia.
- [6]Useful Fiber Plants of the World — Dodge C.R. · USDA; Washington. · 1897 · http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/ ↩︎A rather dated, but very comprehensive catalogue of fibre plants from around the world. The book can be downloaded from the Internet.
- [7]Dictionary of Economic Plants. — Uphof. J. C. Th. · Weinheim · 1959 · ISBN - ↩︎An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.
- [8]Cornucopia II — Facciola. S. · Kampong Publications, California. · 1998 · ISBN 0-9628087-2-5 ↩︎The second edition of an excellent guide to the edible uses of plants, though it does not give any details of cultivation etc.