This plant, Fœniculum vulgare, Order Umbelliferæ, is largely cultivated in Europe. It contains an essential oil in all its parts, but especially in the seeds. The plant is rarely used in perfumery, but more frequently in the manufacture of liqueurs. The herb, dried and comminuted, enters into the composition of some cheap sachets.
Frangipanni (see Plumeria).
Geranium.
Latin—Pelargonium roseum; French—Géranium; German—Geranium.
This plant, originally indigenous in South Africa, contains in its leaves an essential oil whose odor closely resembles that of roses. At present it is cultivated on a large scale in many parts of France and in Turkey, solely for the purposes of perfumery. This plant would grow freely in our Southern and Middle States, and could be cultivated with advantage for the extraction of its highly valued perfume.
The terms “Oil of Geranium” and “Oil of Rose Geranium” ought to be restricted in commerce to the oil obtained from true geranium (Pelargonium). Unfortunately, they are yet very commonly applied to an East Indian oil obtained from a species of Andropogon (see under Citronella).
Hedyosmum Flowers.
On the Antilles there are a number of bushes belonging to the Genus Hedyosmum, Order Chloranthaceæ, whose flowers possess a magnificent, truly intoxicating odor. Thus far these odors seem to have been accessible only to English perfumers. The perfumes sold under this name by Continental manufacturers are merely combinations of different odors.
Heliotrope.
Latin—Heliotropium peruvianum; French—Héliotrope; German—Heliotropenblüthen.
The flowers of this plant, which flourishes well in all temperate or tropic countries, possess a very pleasant odor, about the preparation of which we shall have more to say hereafter. In Europe only French perfumers have manufactured it; according to the author’s experiments, however, its extraction presents no more difficulty than that of any other plant.
A synthetic, chemical product, known as piperonal, related to vanillin and cumarin, possesses the odor of the heliotrope in a most remarkable degree. It is therefore much used to imitate the latter. In commerce it is known as heliotropin.