XV1 INTRODUCTION. 
odour of its blossoms; but in singular contrast to this unpleasant 
smell is the agreeable fragrance of its wood, on account of which 
it is termed in Western Australia (where the wood is marketed) 
“Raspberry Jam ” wood, from some resemblance in its fragrance 
to the odour of that well-known preserve ; the wood is described 
as of a dark colour, very similar in appearance to rosewood, very 
heavy, sinking in water like a stone, and so hard when dry as to 
turn the edge of a saw or chisel. The leaves are said to yield no 
perceptible smell when fresh, but after 48 hours of bemg plucked 
to emit a strong unpleasant odour, something like rotten cabbage. 
A slab of the wood of this tree was exhibited at the Colonial 
Exhibition. 
The Pogostemon purpuricaulis, a tall fruticose labiate, possesses 
in all its parts a strong odour of black currants ; it is a perennial ; 
its smooth leaves are often 6 inches long, broadly ovate, acumi- 
nate, and serrated. The plant is very common in Kokun. 
The Gaillardia scabiosoides, a bushy plant about 15 inches 
high, growing in dense masses on low clay plams on the western 
side of temperate S. America, has blossoms which possess a strong 
odour of ripe apricots. 
The alcoholic extract of the bark of Colubrina reclinata (“ Snake- 
wood” of Martinique) , when boiled with very dilute acid, gives off 
an odour exactly resembling ripe raspberries. 
As a general principle, a larger proportion of white flowers 
are fragrant than those of any colour, yellow comes next, then 
red, blue, violet, green, orange, brown, and black. Orange and 
brown are frequently unpleasant in scent, white flowers very rarely 
so. It must be remembered, however, that odours are differently 
appreciated by different people, and what pleases one person may 
have a reverse effect on another ; thus the strong odour of Tagetes 
Patula (French Marigold) and T. erecta (African Marigold) is not 
unpleasant to some, while others consider it very objectionable. 
Many flowers have a strong odour of honey ; it is very powerful 
in those of the Asclepias Syriaca; they are much visited by the 
bee. The odour of honey or brown sugar is noticeable in the 
“ Sweet Scabious,”’ also in the aquatic Ranunculi and in some 
