Flower Scents from the Pacific

For a long time, exotic scents from the islands of the South Pacific have universally been appreciated. Most frequently, fragrant flowers ( e.g. , frangipani, jasmine sambac, tiaré, pua kenikeni ) are used locally for ornamental purposes such as flower garlands ( leis ). Despite their powerful and delightful fragrance, very few of these flowers have been commercially employed in this part of the world for perfume manufacturing. Creative perfumers are nevertheless strongly interested to better understand these fragrances and to use them, either genuine or artificially reconstituted. Analytical results on the fragrance of these flowers are reported, together with some economical considerations.