Ylang-Ylang

Origin

Cananga odorata is a fast-growing evergreen tree reaching up to 30 m in height. It is native to areas from Indochina to northeastern Australia and has been introduced to many other regions. The flowers have six yellow petals up to 9 cm long. The species was first described as Uvaria odorata in 1785 by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck. In 1855, the British botanists Joseph Dalton Hooker and Thomas Thomson transferred it to the genus Cananga. The genus Cananga contains only two species, Cananga odorata and Cananga brandisiana. For a long time the cananga tree and the ylang-ylang tree were considered the same species; a later study placed the true cananga in the form macrophylla and ylang-ylang in the form genuina. The clusters of black fruit are an important food item for birds.

Name

The name Cananga is derived from the Malay word kananga. 'Ylang-ylang' is the Spanish spelling of the Tagalog name for the tree, ilang-ilang.

Composition

In the Extra fraction, p-cresyl methyl ether makes up 5–16%, methyl benzoate 4–9%, linalool 7–24%, benzyl acetate 5.5–17.5% and geranyl acetate 2.5–14%. The other fractions contain increasing amounts of sesquiterpene hydrocarbons, which are less volatile, such as β-caryophyllene, germacrene D and (E,E)-α-farnesene. Together, sesquiterpene hydrocarbons such as caryophyllene, germacrene-D and (E,E)-α-farnesene amount to more than 70% of ylang-ylang III. As distillation proceeds, the specific gravity and the ester content of the fractions decrease, whereas the optical rotation and the refractive index increase. The last fractions consist chiefly of sesquiterpenes and therefore have little odor value. Components such as p-cresol, eugenol and isoeugenol matter for the odor even though they are present only in low concentration. The Extra fraction has the deepest color, probably because of phenolic substances. The Extra oil loses its delicate, strong odor if it is exposed to light. In one GC-MS analysis the main compounds included linalool (15.23%), benzyl benzoate (11.39%), geranyl acetate (9.46%) and methyl benzoate (7.64%). Geographical origin, climate and seasonal variations could influence the composition of the oil.

Production

The Comoros archipelago produces between 30 and 40 tonnes of the oil each year, ahead of Madagascar, mainly on the island of Anjouan, which has 350 distilleries. The oil made up 29% of the Comoros' annual export in 1998. Forest cover in the Comoros has shrunk by 25 per cent in 20 years, and distilling the oil in old alembics takes a lot of wood.

History

The flower was first distilled in 1860 in Manila, Philippines. From 1860 to 1950, the exploitation of ylang-ylang was concentrated in the Philippines. Production was then taken to the Indian Ocean islands, including Madagascar and the Comoros archipelago, which are the main producers today. The French introduced the tree on the island of Reunion in the 1700s. In the early 1900s its cultivation spread to the nearby islands of Comoros and Madagascar.

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 interaction of hundreds of min or constituents that synthetics cannot economically replicate. In Nuit Elastique by PREMIEREPEAU, ylang-ylang First absolute from Bourbon sits at the heart alongside jasmine sambac and grandiflorum, anchoring the narcotic floral accord.

This note in PREMIEREPEAU. Nuit Élastique. Sample all seven extraits in the Discovery Set.