22 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 



Perfumes from Plants. — Many perfumes and flavor- 

 ings that were once obtained from flowers, fruits or leaves 

 are now made by the chemist in his laboratory, but we have 

 not entirely given up the vegetable world as a cheap and con- 

 venient source of stimulants to our senses of taste and smell. 

 Of such products we still import several million dollars worth 

 each year. Some of the most familiar plants used for perfume 

 3 re almond, caraway, fennel, jasmine, citron, lavender, lemon, 

 orange, rosemary, rose thyme violet geranium, acacia and 

 tuberose. There are four principal ways of obtaining the per- 

 fume depending upon the kind of plant used. For those with 

 abundant oil, such as the orange, the fragrant part may be 

 obtained by pressure. Others, like peppermint, birch, sassa- 

 fras and wintergreen require distillation. Maceration consists 

 in immersing the plant parts, usually flowers, in melted 

 grease, while enfleurage, the most delicate of all, is carried on 

 by placing the flowers on sheets of glass which have been cov- 

 ered with a thin layer of grease. The characteristic odor of 

 any of our fragrant species may be brought out by one of these 

 four methods. In general the essential oils are obtained by 

 distillation and the more delicate odors of flowers by macera- 

 tion or enfleurage. Anyone with an experimental turn of 

 mind can easily make a still and derive considerable pleasure 

 from the distillation of various plant oils. All that is needed 

 is some kind of a boiler and a few feet of pipe for the 

 "worm" through which the vapor from the boiling plants is 

 led until it condenses. The worm is kept cool by a constant 

 flow of cold water over it. Among our native plants from 

 which perfumes and oils have been extracted may be men- 

 tioned sweet golden-rod (Solidago odora) Canada ginger 

 (Asarum Canadense) magnolia, birch, wintergreen, sassafras 

 and bergamot. 



