Am.  Jour.  Pharm. ) 
March,  1885.  j 
Essential  Oil  Industry  in  Grasse. 
135 
Asia  Minor  or  India  in  the  sixteenth  century  ;  but  it  is  found  advan- 
tageous to  graft  upon  it  the  Jasminum  grandiflorum,  L.^  bearing  larger 
flowers,  having  a  more  powerful  odor;  this  also  is  an  Indian  species, 
which  probably  came  to  Europe  before  the  time  of  Rheede,  in  whose 
^  Hortus  Malabaricus  '  (v.,  tab.  52)  it  is  figured.  But  the  Jasminum, 
grandiflorum,  here  known  as  "  Jasmin  d'Espagne/'  even  in  the  beauti- 
ful Paradise  of  Provence,  requires  some  shelter  in  winter,  and  this  is 
effected  by  simply  covering  the  small  bushes  with  earth.  Since  only 
the  flowers  are  required,  the  plants  are  allowed  to  grow  scarcely  half  a 
metre  high,  and  they  are  planted  close  to  one  another  in  regular  rows. 
In  the  spring  the  young  shoots  are  cut  back.  The  flowering  takes  place 
in  August.  Professor  Fliickiger  suggests  that  an  enterprising  cultivator 
might  make  experiments  at  Grasse  with  the  Jasminum  Sambac,  Vahl, 
which  in  India  is  far  more  highly  prized  and  appears  to  possess  a  per- 
fume far  more  powerful  than  that  of  any  other  species  of  jasmine,  as 
was  pointed  out  two  hundred  years  ago  by  Pumphius.  A  figure  of 
Jasminum  Sambac  is  given  in  the  Botanical  Magazine,  vol.  xliii.  (1816) 
No.  1785. 
(5)  .  The  jonquille  (Narcissus  Jonquilia,  L.),  probably  of  oriental 
origin,  bears  two  to  five  extremely  odorous  yellow  flowers,  with  a  short 
funnel-shaped  perianth  and  a  corona  four  times  as  long.  The  name 
of  the  species  (Italian,  giunchiglia)  is  derived  from  the  nearly  cylin- 
drical leaves,  grooved  on  their  upper  side,  recalling  those  of  species  of 
Juncus.  When  the  author  was  in  Grasse,  in  April,  the  flowering  of 
the  jonquil  was  already  over. 
(6)  .  ResSda  (Reseda  odorata),  cultivated  throughout  Central  Europe 
as  a  favorite  garden  and  pot  plant ;  it  is  alleged  to  have  been  derived 
from  Egypt. 
(7)  .  Tuhereuse  (Polianthes  tuberosa,  L.)  an  Amaryllidaceous  plant, 
belonging  to  the  Agave  division,  and  a  native  of  Mexico.  Its  beauti- 
ful white  flowers  give  its  name  to  the  genus  (polios,  white  or  grey) ; 
the  single  species  has  a  sliort  tuberculous  thickened  rhizone.  The 
Polianthes  was  introduced  in  Europe  during  last  century  as  an  orna- 
mental plant  on  account  of  its  noble  head  of  odorous  flowers,  which 
probably  are  nowhere  else  cultivated  in  such  quantity  as  at  Grasse. 
Already,  between  1571  and  1577  it  had  attracted  the  attention  of  the 
Spanish  physician  Francisco  Hernandez,  who  undertook  the  scientific 
exploration  of  Mexico  at  the  cost  of  King  Philip.  In  his  "  Nova 
Plantarum,  Animaliuni  et  Mineralium  Mexicanorum  Historia"  (Rome 
