Home › Glossary › Cananga

Cananga

Q: Is Cananga natural or synthetic?

. Extraction: Single continuous steam distillation of fresh Cananga odorata flowers. All fractions collected together over 15-20 hours. Major production: Java, Indonesia. Yield 1.5-2.5%..

FLOWERS / floral · fruity · creamy

Cananga

Category	FLOWERS
Subcategory	floral · fruity · creamy
Origin
Volatility	Heart Note
Botanical	Cananga odorata
Appearance	pale yellow clear liquid
Odor Strength	Medium
Producing Countries	Indonesia, Philippines
Pyramid	Heart

Ylang-ylang's rougher, louder sibling. Same tree, same flowers, but steam-distilled without fractional separation. Cruder, greener, more insistent.

Scent
Terroir & Origins
The Full Story
Fun Fact
Extraction & Chemistry
In Perfumery

Scent

Full-spectrum ylang without refinement. Creamy-floral-tropical core, but with more green, more terpenic, more 'whole plant' character. Louder, less restrained than ylang Extra. All the beauty and roughness together.

Evolution over time

Immediately

Loud tropical floral, green-terpenic, creamy-sweet

After a few hours

Warm narcotic ylang-like core, still green

After a few days

Persistent sweet-floral warmth, less refined than ylang

Terroir & Origins

Indicative 2025 wholesale prices.

The Full Story

Canang a oil comes from the same species as ylang-ylang — Canang a odorat a — but produced by single continuous distillati on rather than fractional extracti on. The result is louder, greener, less clean.

Where ylang Extra isolates delicate narcotic top fractions, cananga includes everything — green, medicinal terpenes alongside sweet, creamy florals. Recognizably ylang but more vegetal, forceful, unpolished.

Some perfumers prefer its rougher character for compositions that benefit from unrefined tropical intensity. Major production is in Java, Indonesia.

The trees are identical; only the processing determines whether the product is 'cananga' or 'ylang-ylang.'

This note in Première Peau. Nuit Elastique · Rose Monotone. Sample all seven extraits in the Discovery Set.

—

Did You Know?

Did you know?

In Indonesia, cananga flowers are scattered on newlyweds' beds (ranjang bunga) as an aphrodisiac. The same flowers are placed on graves as offerings — making cananga simultaneously a symbol of love and mourning.

Extraction & Chemistry

Extraction method: Single continuous steam distillation of fresh Cananga odorata flowers. All fractions collected together over 15-20 hours. Major production: Java, Indonesia. Yield 1.5-2.5%.

↑ See Terroir & Origins for origin-specific methods.

Molecular Formula	N/A - complex essential oil (key: linalool, benzyl acetate)
CAS Number	68606-83-7
Botanical Name	Cananga odorata
IFRA Status	Restricted (IFRA 51st: limits due to potential sensitizers)
Synonyms	YLANG-YLANG
Physical Properties
Odor Strength	Medium
Lasting Power	116 hours at 100.00%
Appearance	pale yellow clear liquid
Flash Point	185.00 °F. TCC ( 85.00 °C. )
Specific Gravity	0.90600 to 0.92300 @ 25.00 °C.
Refractive Index	1.49500 to 1.50500 @ 20.00 °C.

In Perfumery

Heart-note tropical floral providing full-spectrum ylang character. Less clean but more complete and cost-effective. Functions in Amber and tropical compositions where raw intensity is preferred. The green-terpenic qualities add naturalistic complexity absent from ylang Extr a.