Comoros, Madagascar, Philippines, Reunion, Indonesia (Java)
Pyramid
Heart
Banana-skin sweetness cut with a rubbery, medicinal sharpness. Ylang-ylang is the heaviest of the white florals — denser than jasmine, sweeter than tuberose, with a creamy narcotic quality that verges on overwhelming before a warm, almost animalic dry-down pulls it back. The Extra fraction, siphoned in the first two hours of distillation, is the grade used in fine fragrance.
The opening is thick, almost oppressively sweet — ripe banana and custard, with a jasmine-like creaminess underneath. Within minutes a rubbery, medicinal sharpness from p-cresyl methyl ether asserts itself, pulling the scent away from anything merely pretty. Denser than jasmine absolute, less green than tuberose, and without the camphoraceous lift of gardenia.
The dry-down is warm, slightly spicy, faintly animalic — an intimate musky residue that persists for hours. At high concentration the sweetness can become cloying; in dilution, the complexity unfolds. The First fraction retains more floral volume and a rounder body than Extra, trading top-note transparency for mid-range density — the reason it is often preferred in complex compositions.
Evolution over time
Immediately
Immediately
Thick banana-custard sweetness, almost narcotic. A jasmine-like creaminess with a rubbery-medicinal phenolic edge from p-cresyl methyl ether. Intensely heady at full concentration.
After a few hours
After a few hours
The top sweetness recedes, revealing a warm creamy-floral heart with emerging spicy and woody facets from sesquiterpenes (caryophyllene, germacrene-D). The phenolic note softens into something rounder, less sharp. Still dense, but more balanced.
After a few days
After a few days
Persistent warm, faintly musky-sweet residue with a skin-like quality. Good tenacity — 8–12 hours on skin for Extra grade, longer for Complete and First owing to their heavier sesquiterpene load.
Terroir & Origins
Indicative 2025 wholesale prices.
The Full Story
Ylang-ylang is the flower of Cananga odorata, a fast-growing tropical tree in the Annonaceae family, native to the Philippines and Southeast Asia. The name derives from the Tagalog ilang-ilang, meaning 'wild' or 'of the wilderness' — not 'flower of flowers,' a persistent mistranslation that no primary Tagalog source supports. Commercial production centres on the Comoros archipelago (Anjouan accounts for roughly 25–30 of the world's estimated 60–80 annual tonnes), followed by Madagascar's Nosy Bé, the Philippines, and Réunion. Indonesia (Java, Sumatra) contributes smaller volumes.
What distinguishes ylang-ylang from every other floral oil is the fractional distillation. The flowers are steam-distilled over 15–20 hours, and the process is interrupted at intervals to siphon off successive grades: Extra (collected in the first 1–2 hours), then First, Second, and Third. A fifth commercial product, Complete, is an unfractionated full run. Extra grade — the fraction used in fine fragrance — is lightest and richest in the volatile, odoriferous compounds: benzyl acetate (15–30%), linalool (7–24%), p-cresyl methyl ether (7–13%), methyl benzoate (4–9%), and geranyl acetate (2–14%). The later fractions accumulate heavier sesquiterpenes — β-caryophyllene, germacrene-D, (E,E)-α-farnesene — giving them a darker, woodier character.
The scent of Extr a grade opens with an almost narcotic banan a-custard sweetness (benzyl acetate, methyl benzoate), layered over a jasmine-adjacent creaminess and a rubbery-medicinal phenolic note from p-cresyl methyl ether. This phenolic quality is the key to ylang-ylang's personality: it gives the flower an animalic, slightly fecal edge that no other white floral shares at comparable intensity. Complete grade is fuller, less clean, with more balsamic-woody depth from its sesquiterpene tail.
No single synthetic molecule captures ylang-ylang. Reconstructions combine benzyl acetate, linalool, p-cresyl methyl ether, isoeugenol, and farnesol, but the result reads as a sketch — technically plausible, olfactively flat. The natural oil's complexity stems from the interacti on of hundreds of min or constituents that synthetics cannot economically replicate. In Nuit Elastique by Première Peau, ylang-ylang First absolute from Bourb on sits at the heart alongside jasmine sambac and grandiflorum, anchoring the narcotic floral accord.
This note in Première Peau. Gravitas Capitale · Insuline Safrine · Nuit Elastique. Sample all seven extraits in the Discovery Set.
Ylang-ylang is the only commercially distilled essential oil that is routinely fractioned during a single distillation run. The distiller physically stops and restarts the process to collect successive grades — Extra, First, Second, Third — each with a distinct chemical profile and market price. No other flower is distilled this way. The Extra fraction, collected in the first 1–2 hours, is the smallest and most expensive cut. In Indonesia, ylang-ylang flowers are spread on the bed of newlywed couples — a tradition echoing the flower's association with sensuality across Southeast Asia.
Extraction & Chemistry
Extraction method: Fractional steam distillation of fresh flowers, harvested by hand — typically at dawn, when volatile concentration peaks. The distillation runs 15–20 hours total. Four fractions are collected by interrupting the process at intervals: Extra (first 1–2 hours), First, Second, Third. A fifth commercial product, Complete, is an uninterrupted full-duration run. Extra grade yield: approximately 0.5–1% from fresh flowers. Complete grade yield: approximately 1.5–2.5%.
The Comoros Islands dominate global production: Anjouan alone produces an estimated 25–30 tonnes annually from several hundred artisanal distilleries. Madagascar (principally Nosy Bé) contributes around 20 tonnes. The Philippines, Réunion, and Indonesia produce smaller volumes. Flowers are harvested year-round, with peak output during the wet season. CO₂ supercritical extraction and solvent extraction (absolute) are also practised but represent minor commercial volume.
Not restricted as a whole oil under IFRA. Individual constituents — isoeugenol, benzyl benzoate, linalool, farnesol, benzyl salicylate, geraniol — are restricted under their respective IFRA standards and require EU allergen declaration under Regulation 2023/1545. Effective use levels in fine fragrance are constrained by constituent limits, particularly isoeugenol.
Synonyms
YLANG · CANANGA · ILANG-ILANG · MACASSAR OIL
Physical Properties
Odor Strength
Strong
Lasting Power
140 hours
Appearance
Pale yellow to yellow, clear oily liquid
Flash Point
170.00 °F. TCC ( 76.67 °C. )
Specific Gravity
0.94800 to 0.96800 @ 25.00 °C.
Refractive Index
1.49700 to 1.51100 @ 20.00 °C.
In Perfumery
Ylang-ylang functions as a heart-to-base floral with notable volume-building capacity. In classic amber and floral-amber compositions it provides the dense, creamy floral body — the olfactory equivalent of weight and richness. Extra grade for fine fragrance transparency; First for richer heart accords; Complete for functional products. Its primary technical virtue is the p-cresyl methyl ether content, which gives it a unique animalic-phenolic bridge to musks and leather accords. No other floral raw material delivers this quality at comparable intensity. It blends with jasmine absolute (amplifying the indolic axis), sandalwood (extending the creamy warmth), and bergamot or neroli (counterbalancing the sweetness with citrus transparency). In the fragrance families: essential to many amber and floral-amber constructions, frequent in chypres (as a floral heart alongside rose and jasmine), and occasionally deployed in fougères for exotic lift. Nuit Elastique by Première Peau explores this territory: ylang-ylang First absolute from Bourbon anchors the narcotic night-flower heart alongside jasmine sambac, grandiflorum, rose turque, and champaca rouge.
