122 
The  Odors  of  Plants. 
/Am.  Jour.  Phaem. 
t    March  1,  1872. 
Lecoq's  "Etudes  sur  la  Geographic  Botanique  de  l'Europe,"  from 
which  some  of  the  following  details  are  borrowed.  In  almost  every 
case,  however,  additional  instances  of  similarity  will  suggest  them- 
selves to  the  reader,  especially  if  he  be  gifted  with  a  keen  nose,  and  % 
good  memory  for  smells.  In  the  first  place,  it  may  be  laid  down  as  a 
general  principle,  that  a  larger  proportion  of  white  flowers  are  fragrant 
than  those  of  any  other  color  ;  yellow  comes  next,  then  red,  and 
lastly,  blue  ;  after  which,  and  in  the  same  order,  may  be  reckoned 
violet,  green,  orange,  brown  and  black. 
Among  white  flowers,  certain  types  of  scent  are  very  prevalent, 
Thus  many  umbelliferous  plants  have  a  strong  odor  of  honey,  which 
is  very  marked  in  Anthriscus  sylvestris,  and  is  found  also  in  the 
aquatic  ranunculi ;  Eucalyptus  glandulosa  recalls  the  same  scent  ; 
and  in  the  almond  and  apricot  we  encounter  it,  qualified  by  that 
flavor  of  prussic  acid  which  is  so  perceptible  in  the  hawthorn  when 
one  does  not  inhale  too  closely  the  fragrance  of  its  flowers.  This 
scent  is  intensified  in  Spircea  Ulmaria  ;  in  S.  Filipendula  it  is  modi- 
fied by  a  soupcon  of  the  odor  which  is  found  also  in  the  privet  and  in 
Actcea  spicata,  and  attains  distinctness  in  the  elder.  Many  rubia- 
ceous  shrubs  have  similar  odors,  and  resemble  certain  Apocynece  ; 
and  the  Philadelphus  coronarius  has  so  much  affinity  in  scent  with 
the  orange,  that  it  is  often  called  the  "  mock  orange  bloom."  Other 
types  of  scent  among  white  flowers  are  presented  by  the  white  lily* 
the  jasmine,  the  tuberose,  and  the  lily-of-the-valley.  It  is  curious  to 
observe  that,  among  cultivated  plants,  white-flowered  varieties  are 
very  often  the  most — if  not  the  only — fragrant  ones  ;  this  is  the  case 
with  the  white  petunia  (?)  and  a  commonly  cultivated  white-flowered 
verbena  (?).  It  is  also  worthy  of  notice  that  many  of  the  scents^ 
among  white  flowers  are  only  pleasant  when  in  very  small  quantit  y 
and  become  absolutely  disagreeable  when  intensified ;  this  is  the  case, 
especially,  with  the  hawthorn  and  white  1'ly.^ 
Among  yellow  flowers,  the  scent  of  the  orange  is  often  found,  we 
may  note,  in  the  common  broom,  and  in  Biseutella  saxatilis  and  other 
yellow  Crucifers.  The  curious  alcoholic  odor  which  has  earned  for 
Nuphar  lutea  its  English  name  of  "  Brandy-bottle  "  is  found  also  in 
the  yellow  Brugmansia  floribunda,  as  well  as  in  the  yellow  catkins  of 
Salix  caprea.  Hippocrepis  comosa  recalls  the  smell  of  cheese,  and 
this  odor  attains  its  maximum  in  the  blossoms  of  Genista  Scorpius. 
The  honey  scent  is  found  in  several  yellow-blossomed  plants,  notably 
in  Galium  verum  and  Mahonia  intermedia. 
