In the Philippines, it means "flower of flowers". Its tree native to the tropical forests of Southeast Asia was imported to the islands of the Indian Ocean in the 20th century. Nowadays, it is mainly grown in the Comoros and Madagascar. Although the Cananga odorata flower is yellow, it is olfactorily classified among white flowers. Distillation of its petals lasts up to twenty hours, but only the oil from the first few hours is used in perfumery, as a heart note. Its scent is that of a strong, powdery and solar white flower. It also has medicinal inflections, with fruity facets like ripe banana, and spicy, slightly heady tones like a lily.

There are several ways to process the Citrus Aurantium flower. By volatile solvent extraction to obtain the orange blossom absolute, or by steam distillation for the orange blossom oil. But beware, connoisseurs know it well: we don't speak of orange blossom oil but of neroli oil, since the Princess of Nerola, enraptured by its fragrance, brought it into fashion at the time of French king Louis XIV. The absolute is used for middle and base notes, with solar floral overtones, in turn fresh or heady, honeyed and animalic. Neroli oil has much more citrusy and green floral inflections, used in the top and heart notes of a fragrance. It is often associated with the smell of sun-dried sheets and flavored madeleines.

Known by its Latin name as jasminum grandiflorum, the jasmine used in perfumery is surprisingly potent and multi-faceted, ranging from orangey-floral, solar, fruity (banana, strawberry, apricot), to animalic and spicy. Jasmine has an astonishingly complex structure for such a fragile flower that needs to be harvested very early in the morning before the sun spoils its fragrance. Its scent can only be extracted with volatile solvents and is very expensive due to its low yield of essential oil. Its kaleidoscope of nuances blends perfectly with other flowers as well as woods or ambery accords.

Its powerful, narcotic, even unpleasant aromas have long earned it the reputation of casting spells: in the past, young girls were forbidden to take evening walks in tuberose fields because they could lose their minds. Indeed, the scent of the long stem topped with feather duster-like petals can still be smelled two days after it has been picked. Its voluptuous white flower perfume, obtained by solvent extraction, is remarkably complex: green, spicy, medicinal with fruity, woody nuances evocative of coconut or fig. Originally from Mexico, today Tuberosa polianthes is mainly cultivated in India, as well as once again in the Pays de Grasse where it experienced a huge boom in the 19th century, before almost disappearing.