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AKAR WANGI

Akar Wangi, or 'scented root', belongs to the family of the grasses. The botanical name Vetiveria zizanoides has changed a few times - (Andropogon muricatus, Andropogon zizanoides). It is a relative of lemon grass.

It is easily grown in various soil types and quickly spreads out into large clumps up to 2.5 metres high. It is grown for the roots. The scented oil is only found in the roots.

The vetiver oil is widely used in the pharmaceutical industry as a base for perfumes. It has the property of a fixative, a material that holds the other elements of a perfume together and keep the fragrance conserved over a long period.

In Indonesia, the roots are formed into fans, kipas akar wangi. These are often put between clothes in the wardrobes as a repellant for insects and for the typical fragrance. The fragrance evaporates very slowly so the fan will last a long time.

Editors Note: According to the book,The Directory of Essential Oil by Wanda Sellar, the vetiver oil is extracted by distillation and the aroma has a deep, smoky and earthy fragrance. The older the root, the better the oil, which also improves with age. It in known as the oil of tranquility, due to its calming action.

A famous European perfume called 'Mousseline des Indes' contained vetiver, along with sandalwood, benzoin, thyme and rose.

Before the first world War, Java used to export dried vetiver root to Europe for distillation. Unfortunately, the shipping lanes became too crowded and Java started sto distil the plant material them selves, and called it 'Akar Wangi. It is also known as 'Vetivert oil'.

BOOK REVIEW: VETIVER GRASS, A THIN GREEN LINE AGAINST EROSION.
Published by Board on Science and Technology for International Development, Washington, 1993. 182 pages.

This is the latest in the epoch-making publications put out by BOSTID, the third-world development agency of the US National Research Council. It follows on from Neem, A Tree For Solving Global Problems, which fares well to alter the world's attitude to insect control using natural products, and many other development problems.

Vetiver grass is an outstanding plant material for combatting a huge range of erosion, flooding, and and stability problems. Also known as khus khus, the source of an aromatic oil extracted from the roots, vetiver has many other uses. But it is unequalled, to date, as a means of soil protection on sloping sites.

In one very appropriate usage for tree croppers, vetiver can be used in a self-terracing mode on sloping orchard sites. Planted in a thin row along the contour, the grass soon forms a barrier which stops soil movement and slows down runoff from thunderstorms to a gentle trickle. The result is that soil builds up above the vetiver and forms a natural terrace, while the vetiver continually grows with the new 'contour bank' and stabilizes it - in contrast to man-made contour ridges, which gradually lose their form.

Although other grasses and trees have been used as vegetative barriers for soil conservation, vetiver seems to combine several characteristics that make it special:

• It reduces erosion when in a hedge just one plant wide. (Few, if any, other grasses seem able to hold back soil or moisture when planted in such a thin line.)

• Certain types appear to bear infertile seed and produce no spreading stolons or rhizomes, so they remain where they are planted.

• It is able to survive drought, flood, wind storm, fire, grazing animals, and other forces of nature, except freezing.

• It has a deep-penetrating root system.

• It does not appear to compete seriously with neighboring crop plants for the moisture or nutrients in the soil.

• It is not difficult to remove if no longer wanted.

• It is (at least so far) largely free of insects and diseases and does not appear to be a host for any serious pests or pathogens that attack crops.

• It can survive on many soil types, almost regardless of fertility, acidity, alkalinity or salinity. (This includes sands, shales, gravels, and even aluminium-rich soils that are deadly to most plants.)

• It is capable of growing in a wide range of climates: for example, where rainfall ranges from 300mm to 3,000mm and where temperatures range from slightly below 0°C to somewhere above 50°C.

The book deals clearly and comprehensively with vetiver's history of trial and development in all parts of the world, covering its biology and uses, and giving the usual invaluable BOSTID list of Research Contacts in many countries (91 in this case).

So far as people in temperate climates are concerned, a limitation to be borne in mind is that vetiver's growth slows down considerably as the temperature cools. This aspect of the plant's physiology is receiving attention, in looking for colder-climate relatives or possible true vetiver varieties. Experience in Perth, regarded as a typical Mediterranean climate, is that vetiver is not troubled locally by cold or frost, but needs watering in summer to become established.

DATE: September 1993

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