- 104 — 



As we have already repeatedly and in detail reported on this subject, we 

 will content ourselves with quoting a few particulars from the interesting 

 article in completion of our previous references 1 ). 



The ylang-ylang tree is not indigenous in Reunion, but it cannot be 

 said with certainty when it was introduced there. It was possibly brought 

 to the island about the year 1770, concurrently with the seed of spice- 

 trees which had been collected by the French captain d'Etchevery in Ceram 

 and the neighbouring islands of the Dutch East-Indies. 



A few years ago, in 1906 and 1907, there raged in Reunion a veritable 

 ylang-ylang craze: everybody wanted to possess his own ylang-ylang 

 plantation. The seed was sold at fairly high prices, but much of it was 

 poor or even useless into the bargain. For instance, seed was offered for 

 sale which had been scalded in hot water, as well as unripe fruit to which 

 an appearance of maturity had been artificially imparted. 



The example of Reunion soon spread to Madagascar, Nossi-Be, 

 Mayotta, and the Comoro Islands, but planters in these islands had some 

 difficulty in procuring the necessary material for their cultures, because 

 the people of Reunion were afraid of competition and tried to prevent 

 the exportation of the seed. 



The quantity of oilfexported in the year 1 909 amounted to nearly 1 400 kilos. 



New Essential Oils. 



Oil of Artemisia coerulescens, L. Of this plant, which belongs to 

 the N. O. Composite, and occurs on the littoral of the Mediterranean and, 

 in parts, on that of the Atlantic, a sample has reached us from Turin 

 under the name of JErba Santa Maria. We obtained from it 0,24% of an 

 oil which, in its odour, showed a certain similarity to oil of hyssop, but 

 at the same time reminded somewhat of ambrette. At room temperature 

 it appeared as a brownish, butter-like mass, studded with white crystals, 

 which only between 35 and 40° dissolved into a pale brown liquid. Its 

 constants were determined as follows: d 4 oo 0,9179, « D — 5° 50', acid v. 11,3, 

 ester v. 42,0, insoluble in 80% alcohol, soluble in any proportion in 90% al- 

 cohol, with separation of a solid substance. The crystals isolated from 

 the oil, after being recrystallised from alcohol, formed fine, white odour- 

 less needles, m. p. 108°; so far their chemical characteristics have not 

 been further investigated. 



x ) Report April 1902, 68; April 1904, 89; November 1908, 128; October 1909, 130; 

 April 1910, 122. 



