Tanglad
Cymbopogon citratus · Lemongrass
- Names in the 1901 book
- Salay, Tag̃lad, Tag.; Paja de Meca, Sp.-Fil.; Baliyoko, Vis.; Geranium Grass, Eng.
- Names in the 1985 book
- English: Lemon grass, Ginger grass, Sweet-rush; Spanish: Paja de Meca, Zacate lemon; Tagalog: Tanglad, Salaid, Salay; Ilocano: Baraniw; Visayan: Balioko
- Colours
- leafgreen
- Native range
- Maritime Southeast Asia; known only from cultivation
- Family
- Poaceae, filed in the book under Gramineæ
- Printed in 1901 as
- Andropogon Schoenanthes, L.
- Printed in 1985 as
- Andropogon citratus DC Stapf
- Sources
- Page 240 on Project Gutenberg · Healing Wonders of Herbs (1985), page 134 · Wikipedia
The book prints Andropogon Schoenanthes, a name that now belongs to camel grass of Africa and Arabia. The Philippine tanglad it describes is lemongrass, Cymbopogon citratus.
The plant today
Cymbopogon citratus, commonly known as West Indian lemon grass or simply lemon grass, is a tropical plant native to South Asia and Maritime Southeast Asia and introduced to many tropical regions. Cymbopogon citratus is often sold in stem form. While it can be grown in warmer temperate regions, it is not hardy to frost.
Excerpt from “Cymbopogon citratus” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Sa Tagalog
Ang tanglad (Cymbopogon citratus, Ingles: lemon grass) ay isang uri ng damo na katutubo sa Maritimong Timog-silangang Asya at ipinakilala sa maraming mga tropikal na rehiyon.
Sipi mula sa “Tanglad” sa Tagalog Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Recorded in the Philippines
GBIF holds 139 records of this plant from the Philippines. The ones with map coordinates fall in 35 provinces, most often Iloilo (14), Zamboanga del Norte (14), Bataan (11), Benguet (10), Cavite (9), Cebu (9), Zamboanga del Sur (5), Bohol (4), and 27 more.
Counts from GBIF occurrence records, October 2026. They include planted trees and garden plants, and a province with no records may only lack collectors.
What the 1901 book says
A historical record, quoted as printed. Doses and remedies here are not medical advice.
Uses
The Filipino women use the leaves to perfume their gogo hair-wash. The decoction of the leaves is used internally as a diuretic (10 grams to a liter of water) and also to bathe pregnant women. The roots also are diuretic.
A Manila pharmacist, D. Rosendo García, has obtained a good quality of the fixed oil of this plant. In India they call this essence rusa, geranium and gin-gembre (nimar oil, Eng.); the annual export from Bombay is over 40,000 English pounds. It is dextrogyrous and its formula is C5H4.
Another species, the A. nardus, L., commonly called “raiz de mora” (mulberry root), “citronella,” Eng., possesses the same therapeutic properties as the former. It also possesses an agreeable perfume and yields an essential oil, which, like rusa, is used to adulterate Attar of Roses.
The dried root is widely used in the Philippines and in Europe as well, to preserve clothing from moths and other destructive insects, at the same time giving them a sweet odor. In India the decoction is used internally, 10 grams to a liter of water, in the treatment of rheumatism and as a diuretic.
Botanical description
An indigenous grass with sword-shaped leaves about 4° high, tapering at the base, possessing a sweet odor. Root thick, irregular, rough, formed by the union of several small rootlets.
What the 1985 book uses it for
A record of home remedies from 1985, with the book's amounts and doses reworded. It is not medical advice.
- DiarrheaLeaf decoction with sugar and crushed ginger, drunk.Boil 10 young leaves in 2 glasses of water for 10 minutes, then add a tablespoon of sugar and a small piece of crushed ginger. Adults take 1 cup three times a day and after each loose stool. Children the same way: babies 1 tablespoon, ages 2 to 6 a quarter cup, ages 7 to 12 half a cup.Page 21
Summarised from Herminia de Guzman-Ladion, Healing Wonders of Herbs (Manila: Philippine Publishing House, 1985), where this plant is shown as “Tanglad” on page 134. The book is in copyright, so its wording and photographs are not reproduced. Amounts are the book's, restated.
Recent research
The most cited papers since 2022 that name this plant in the title, pulled from Europe PMC in October 2026. Titles are the authors' own and the findings have not been reviewed here.
- Green Synthesis of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles Using Cymbopogon citratus Extract and Its Antibacterial Activity
- Cymbopogon citratus (DC.) Stapf aqueous extract ameliorates loperamide-induced constipation in mice by promoting gastrointestinal motility and regulating the gut microbiota
- Antifungal and Antiaflatoxinogenic Effects of Cymbopogon citratus, Cymbopogon nardus, and Cymbopogon schoenanthus Essential Oils Alone and in Combination