JAMAICA. 



BULLETIN 



OF THE 



BOTANICAL DEPARTMENT. 



New Series.] SEPTEMBER, 1895. Vart"'. 



ESSENTIAL OILS OF THE ORANGE TRIBE. 



Oil from Flowers. 



Oil or Essence of Neroli is the essential oil distilled from the flowers 

 of the Orange. It derives its name from Anne Marie, wife of Flavio 

 Orsini, Prince of Nerola, who about the year 1680 employed it for the 

 perfuming of gloves, hence called in Italy Guanti di Neroli. 



It may be prepared from the flowers of any of the Orange tribe, but 

 that from the Seville or Bitter Orange is more aromatic and more abun- 

 dant. The yield is about 0.6 percent, of oil from flowers of the Seville 

 Orange, and about half that percentage from the Sweet Orange. The 

 fresh flowers are distilled with water in small copper stills. The oil is 

 removed and the water that remains is known under the name of Orange 

 Flower Water. The following notes are taken from Sawer's Odorogra- 

 phia, & Fliickiger & Hanbury's Pharmacographia : — 



The usual time for beginning the collection of the orange-flower crop 

 in the south of France is the last week in April, and the gathering lasts 

 about a month or five weeks. The quantity gathered is at first rather 

 small, but gradually increases, and after May 10, reaches its full pro- 

 portion. One of the principal centres of this industry is Vallaurie. 

 There are fifteen distilleries of orange-flowers in this town. The crop 

 is said to average a million kilogrammes (about 1,000 tons). The yield 

 of Neroli varies with the season when the flowers are collected. Those 

 gathered at the beginning barely produce half a gramme to the kilo, 

 while near the end of May they afford one gramme or more. The buds 

 are picked when on the point of opening, by women, boys, and girls, 

 who make use of a tripod ladder to reach them. These villagers carry 

 the flowers to an agent, who weighs them and spreads them out in a 

 cool place, where they remain until 1 or 2 a.m ; then he puts them into 

 sacks and delivers them at the factory before the sun has risen. They 

 are then taken in hand at once. On exceptional days as many as 160 

 tons are so treated in the whole province. At the factory the flowers 

 are spread out on the stone floor of the receiving-room, in a layer some 

 6 or 8 inches deep. The sepals are then separated by girls, and such of 

 the petals a3 are destined for the production of orange-flower water and 

 Neroli are put into a still through a large canvas shoot, and are covered 

 with water, which is measured by the filling of reservoirs on the same 

 floor. The man-hole of the still is then closed, and the contents are 

 brought to boiling-point by the passage of superheated steam through 

 the coils of a surrounding 'worm. The water and oil pass over, are 



