Cymbopogon schoenanthus

Cymbopogon schoenanthus, the camel grass, camel's hay, straw of Mecca, fever grass, geranium grass, or West Indian lemon grass, is a herbal plant of Southern Asia and Northern Africa, with fragrant foliage.

Uses
Cymbopogon schoenanthus is often made into a common herbal tea. C. schoenanthus oil (called lemongrass oil or camel grass oil) is also used as a tonic and fragrance additive in personal care and cosmetic products such as hair dye, shampoo/conditioner, moisturizer/lotion, bath oil, exfoliant/scrub, anti-aging treatment, and acne treatment. In the Timbuktu-Mali region, its herbal tea is highly used, among others, for gynecological treatments (regulating women cycle, accompanying labor and post partum, contraception) and to relieve bloating due to gas in the digestive tract.

The seventeenth-century English herbalist Nicholas Culpeper said about the plant:


 * Schoenanthus. Schoenanth, Squinanth, or Chamel's hay; hot and binding. It digests and opens the passages of the veins: surely it is as great an expeller of wind as any is.